Criteria-based data synchronization management

ABSTRACT

In general, a data synchronization management system is disclosed in which files (and/or other data) are synchronized among two or more client computing devices in connection with a backup of those files. Synchronization polices specify files to be synchronized based on selected criteria including file data, metadata, and location information. In general, files are initially copied from a primary client computing device to secondary storage. Thereafter, files to be synchronized are identified from the secondary storage, and copied to other client computing devices. Additionally, synchronized files may be viewed and accessed through a cloud and/or remote file access interface.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE TO ANY PRIORITY APPLICATIONS

Any and all applications for which a foreign or domestic priority claimis identified in the Application Data Sheet as filed with the presentapplication are hereby incorporated by reference under 37 CFR 1.57.

The present application is being filed concurrently with U.S.application Ser. No. 13/968,120, filed Aug. 15, 2013, and titled “DATASYNCHRONIZATION MANAGEMENT,” U.S. application Ser. No. 13/968,091, filedAug. 15, 2013, and titled “LOCATION-BASED DATA SYNCHRONIZATIONMANAGEMENT,” and U.S. application Ser. No. 13/968,133, filed Aug. 15,2013, and titled “REQUEST-BASED DATA SYNCHRONIZATION MANAGEMENT,” eachof which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Businesses worldwide recognize the commercial value of their data andseek reliable, cost-effective ways to protect the information stored ontheir computer networks while minimizing impact on productivity.Protecting information is often part of a routine process that isperformed within an organization.

A company might back up critical computing systems such as databases,file servers, web servers, and so on as part of a daily, weekly, ormonthly maintenance schedule. The company may similarly protectcomputing systems used by each of its employees, such as those used byan accounting department, marketing department, engineering department,and so forth.

Given the rapidly expanding volume of data under management, companiesalso continue to seek innovative techniques for managing data growth, inaddition to protecting data. For instance, companies often implementmigration techniques for moving data to lower cost storage over time anddata reduction techniques for reducing redundant data, pruning lowerpriority data, etc.

Enterprises also increasingly view their stored data as a valuableasset. Along these lines, customers are looking for solutions that notonly protect and manage, but also leverage their data. For instance,solutions providing data analysis capabilities, improved datapresentation and access features, data synchronization, and the like,are in increasing demand.

SUMMARY

Generally described, aspects of the present disclosure are directed to adata synchronization management system that may synchronize files(and/or other data) among two or more client computing devices, inaddition to backing up the files. In an embodiment, a user of the datasynchronization management system may specify one or more filesynchronization policies. A file synchronization policy may specify thefiles that are to be synchronized, as well as the devices and locationsto which those files are to be synchronized. For example, a user maycreate file synchronization policy and specify that all the files in aparticular directory on their laptop are to be synchronized. Further,the user may specify that those files are to be synchronized to theirdesktop computer. The user may also optionally specify a synchronizationschedule, and/or a one-way or two-way file synchronization. The datasynchronization management system may work in conjunction with databackup policies.

In an embodiment, a file synchronization proceeds as follows. Specifiedfiles are backed up or otherwise copied from the source client computingdevice to a secondary backup storage. The files to be synchronized areidentified based both on the synchronization policy, and whether or notthey have changed since the last backup. Thus, if a file backed up (andto be synchronized) is unchanged as compared to the previously backed upcopy, that file is not synchronized. Any files identified forsynchronization are synchronized to the one or more destination clientcomputing devices, which are specified according to the synchronizationpolicy of the user.

In an embodiment, a user may specify the files to be synchronized. Filesto be synchronized may be directly selected or otherwise identified, orcriteria may be specified to indirectly identify the files to besynchronized. For instance, without limitation, files may be identifiedby detecting the existence of specified content within the file (such asthe existence of one or more specified terms within a document), and/orby matching metadata associated with the file with one or more specifiedmetadata parameters (such as filename, file owner, directory, creationdate, modification date, size, type, location, Global Positioning System(GPS) coordinates, among others). The criteria used to identify files tobe synchronized can vary. For example, files to be synchronized may beidentified as the files in a certain directory that were created after acertain date.

In an embodiment, the data synchronization management system may addlocation information to files that are backed up. Thus, a file to besynchronized may be identified according to the geographic location atwhich it was created and/or modified. Location information may include,for example, GPS coordinates gathered by the client computing deviceincluding, for example, a GPS receiver.

In an embodiment, a user of the data synchronization management systemmay access synchronized files through a cloud and/or remote file accessinterface. For example, the user may access their files through a webbrowser after their identity is authenticated. In this embodiment, afile list may initially be accessible by the user. Thereafter, a usermay request access to a particular file. At this point the requestedfile data may be transferred from a secondary storage (backup) to theuser's computer so that the user may access the file.

For purposes of summarizing the disclosure, certain aspects, advantagesand novel features thereof have been described herein. Of course, it isto be understood that not necessarily all such aspects, advantages orfeatures will be embodied in any particular embodiment of the invention.

According to an embodiment, a computer-implemented method ofsynchronizing files between multiple client computers using file data isdisclosed, the computer-implemented method comprising: accessing, by asynchronization module executing in computer hardware comprising one ormore computer processors, user-defined synchronization criteria foridentifying files to synchronize between a first primary storage deviceassociated with a first client computing device and a second primarystorage device associated with a second client computing device;reviewing, by the synchronization module, metadata associated with eachof one or more files in a secondary copy, the secondary copy createdduring a secondary copy operation in which the one or more files storedin the first primary storage device are copied to one or more secondarystorage devices to create a secondary copy including the one or morefiles; based at least in part on a review of the accessed metadata,identifying, by the synchronization module, at least one file in thesecondary copy that meets the synchronization criteria forsynchronization between the first primary storage device and the secondprimary storage device; accessing the at least one file; andcommunicating the accessed at least one file to the second clientcomputing device for storage in the second primary storage device tosynchronize the at least one file between the first primary storagedevice and the second primary storage device.

According to an aspect, said communicating comprises communicating acopy of the at least one file that is accessed from the one or moresecondary storage devices.

According to an aspect, said identifying is in response to the secondarycopy operation.

According to an aspect, at least some of the metadata associated witheach of the one or more files in the secondary copy is created followingthe initiation of the secondary copy operation.

According to an aspect, at least some of the metadata associated witheach of the one or more files in the secondary copy is created by thefirst client computing device prior to the initiation of the secondarycopy operation.

According to an aspect the method further comprises: determiningcharacteristics associated with each of the one or more files stored inthe first primary storage device; after the initiation of the secondarycopy operation, for each of the one or more files copied to one or moresecondary storage devices: based on the user-defined synchronizationcriteria and the determined characteristics, generating, by thesynchronization module, an indication of whether the file is to besynchronized between the first primary storage device and the secondprimary storage device; and including the indication with the metadataassociated with the file, wherein the at least one file in the secondarycopy to synchronize is identified based on the indication.

According to an aspect, the accessed metadata includes at least one of afile name, a file owner, a file directory, a creation date, amodification date, a file size, a file type, or a geographical location.

According to an aspect, the method further comprises analyzing thecontents of the at least one file, wherein the metadata includes contentmetadata relating to the analyzed content.

According to an aspect, the user-defined synchronization criteriaspecifies files for synchronization based at least in part on thecontent metadata indicating the existence of one or more terms withinthe file.

According to an aspect, the at least one file communicated to the secondclient computing device replaces a previous version of the at least onefile stored in the second primary storage device.

According to another embodiment, a system for synchronizing filesbetween multiple client computers using file data is disclosed, thesystem comprising: a data store; and a synchronization module executingin computer hardware comprising one or more computer processors andconfigured to: access user-defined synchronization criteria from thedata store for identifying files to synchronize between a first primarystorage device associated with a first client computing device and asecond primary storage device associated with a second client computingdevice; access file data associated with each of one or more files in asecondary copy, the secondary copy created during a secondary copyoperation in which the one or more files stored in the first primarystorage device are copied to one or more secondary storage devices tocreate a secondary copy including the one or more files; based at leastin part on a review of the accessed metadata, identify at least one filein the secondary copy that meets the synchronization criteria forsynchronization between the first primary storage device and the secondprimary storage device; access the at least one file; and communicatethe accessed at least one file to the second client computing device forstorage in the second primary storage device to synchronize the at leastone file between the first primary storage device and the second primarystorage device.

According to an aspect, the metadata includes content metadata relatingto the content of the at least one file and the synchronization criteriaspecifies files for synchronization based at least in part on contentmetadata.

According to an aspect, the user-defined synchronization criteriaspecifies files for synchronization based at least in part on thecontent metadata indicating the existence of one or more terms withinthe file.

According to an aspect, the accessed file data associated with each ofthe one or more files in the secondary copy is created following theinitiation of the secondary copy operation.

According to an aspect, the at least one file communicated to the secondclient computing device replaces a previous version of the at least onefile stored in the second primary storage device.

According to an aspect, the copy of the at least one file that iscommunicated to the second client computing device is accessed from theone or more secondary storage devices.

According to an aspect, the identification of the at least one file isperformed is in response to the secondary copy operation.

According to yet another embodiment, a networked data storage system forsynchronizing files between multiple client computers using file data isdisclosed, the system comprising: a first client computing device; asecond client computing device; at least one first primary storagedevice associated with the first client computing device; at least onesecond primary storage device associated with the second clientcomputing device; one or more secondary storage devices; and computerhardware comprising one or more computer processors and having asynchronization module executing thereon, the synchronization moduleconfigured to: access user-defined synchronization criteria foridentifying files to synchronize between a first primary storage deviceassociated with a first client computing device and a second primarystorage device associated with a second client computing device; accessfile data associated with each of the one or more files in the secondarycopy, the secondary copy created during a secondary copy operation inwhich one or more files stored in the first primary storage device arecopied to one or more secondary storage devices to create a secondarycopy including the one or more files; based at least in part on a reviewof the accessed file data, identify at least one file in the secondarycopy that meets the synchronization criteria for to synchronizationbetween the first primary storage device and the second primary storagedevice; access the at least one file; and communicate the accessed atleast one file to the second client computing device for storage in thesecond primary storage device to synchronize the at least one filebetween the first primary storage device and the second primary storagedevice.

According to an aspect, the identification of the at least one file isperformed in response to the secondary copy operation.

According to an aspect, the copy of the at least one file that iscommunicated to the second client computing device is accessed from theone or more secondary storage devices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary informationmanagement system.

FIG. 1B is a detailed view of a primary storage device, a secondarystorage device, and some examples of primary data and secondary copydata.

FIG. 1C is a block diagram of an exemplary information management systemincluding a storage manager, one or more data agents, and one or moremedia agents.

FIG. 1D is a block diagram illustrating a scalable informationmanagement system.

FIG. 1E illustrates certain secondary copy operations according to anexemplary storage policy.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary informationmanagement system configured to implement synchronization management,according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example data synchronization management process,according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example data synchronization management processincluding designation of particular files, according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example data synchronization management processincluding location metadata, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example remote file access process, according toan embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 7A-G illustrate exemplary screenshots of pages of a user interfaceof a data synchronization management system, according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Systems and methods are described herein for synchronizing files orother data. For instance, techniques are described for synchronizingfiles between multiple client computing devices in a data storagesystem. The synchronization can be in response to, or otherwise inconjunction with, backup or other secondary copy operations. The datasynchronization components and techniques may be incorporated within,implemented by, or otherwise compatible with information managementsystems such as those that will now be described with respect to FIGS.1A-1E. Data synchronization is described in further detail with respectto FIGS. 2-7G.

Information Management System Overview

With the increasing importance of protecting and leveraging data,organizations simply cannot afford to take the risk of losing criticaldata. Moreover, runaway data growth and other modern realities makeprotecting and managing data an increasingly difficult task. There istherefore a need for efficient, powerful, and user-friendly solutionsfor protecting and managing data.

Depending on the size of the organization, there are typically many dataproduction sources which are under the purview of tens, hundreds, oreven thousands of employees or other individuals. In the past,individual employees were sometimes responsible for managing andprotecting their data. A patchwork of hardware and software pointsolutions have been applied in other cases. These solutions were oftenprovided by different vendors and had limited or no interoperability.

Certain embodiments described herein provide systems and methods capableof addressing these and other shortcomings of prior approaches byimplementing unified, organization-wide information management. FIG. 1Ashows one such information management system 100, which generallyincludes combinations of hardware and software configured to protect andmanage data and metadata generated and used by the various computingdevices in the information management system 100.

The organization which employs the information management system 100 maybe a corporation or other business entity, non-profit organization,educational institution, household, governmental agency, or the like.

Generally, the systems and associated components described herein may becompatible with and/or provide some or all of the functionality of thesystems and corresponding components described in one or more of thefollowing U.S. patents and patent application publications assigned toCommVault Systems, Inc., each of which is hereby incorporated in itsentirety by reference herein:

-   -   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2010-0332456, entitled “DATA OBJECT STORE AND        SERVER FOR A CLOUD STORAGE ENVIRONMENT, INCLUDING DATA        DEDUPLICATION AND DATA MANAGEMENT ACROSS MULTIPLE CLOUD STORAGE        SITES”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,035,880, entitled “MODULAR BACKUP AND RETRIEVAL        SYSTEM USED IN CONJUNCTION WITH A STORAGE AREA NETWORK”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453, entitled “HIERARCHICAL SYSTEMS AND        METHODS FOR PROVIDING A UNIFIED VIEW OF STORAGE INFORMATION”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,395,282, entitled “HIERARCHICAL BACKUP AND        RETRIEVAL SYSTEM”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,246,207, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR        DYNAMICALLY PERFORMING STORAGE OPERATIONS IN A COMPUTER        NETWORK”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,747,579, entitled “METABASE FOR FACILITATING        DATA CLASSIFICATION”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,229,954, entitled “MANAGING COPIES OF DATA”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,617,262, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR        MONITORING APPLICATION DATA IN A DATA REPLICATION SYSTEM”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 7,529,782, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR        PERFORMING A SNAPSHOT AND FOR RESTORING DATA”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,230,195, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR        PERFORMING AUXILIARY STORAGE OPERATIONS”;    -   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2012/0084269, entitled “CONTENT-ALIGNED,        BLOCK-BASED DEDUPLICATION”;    -   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2006/0224846, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD TO        SUPPORT SINGLE INSTANCE STORAGE OPERATIONS”;    -   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2009/0329534, entitled “APPLICATION-AWARE AND        REMOTE SINGLE INSTANCE DATA MANAGEMENT”;    -   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2012/0150826, entitled “DISTRIBUTED        DEDUPLICATED STORAGE SYSTEM”;    -   U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2012/0150818, entitled “CLIENT-SIDE        REPOSITORY IN A NETWORKED DEDUPLICATED STORAGE SYSTEM”;    -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,170,995, entitled “METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR OFFLINE        INDEXING OF CONTENT AND CLASSIFYING STORED DATA”; and    -   U.S. Pat. No. 8,156,086, entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR        STORED DATA VERIFICATION”.

The illustrated information management system 100 includes one or moreclient computing device 102 having at least one application 110executing thereon, and one or more primary storage devices 104 storingprimary data 112. The client computing device(s) 102 and the primarystorage devices 104 may generally be referred to in some cases as aprimary storage subsystem 117.

Depending on the context, the term “information management system” canrefer to generally all of the illustrated hardware and softwarecomponents. Or, in other instances, the term may refer to only a subsetof the illustrated components.

For instance, in some cases information management system 100 generallyrefers to a combination of specialized components used to protect, move,manage, manipulate and/or process data and metadata generated by theclient computing devices 102. However, the term may generally not referto the underlying components that generate and/or store the primary data112, such as the client computing devices 102 themselves, theapplications 110 and operating system residing on the client computingdevices 102, and the primary storage devices 104.

As an example, “information management system” may sometimes refer onlyto one or more of the following components and corresponding datastructures: storage managers, data agents, and media agents. Thesecomponents will be described in further detail below.

Client Computing Devices

There are typically a variety of sources in an organization that producedata to be protected and managed. As just one illustrative example, in acorporate environment such data sources can be employee workstations andcompany servers such as a mail server, a web server, or the like. In theinformation management system 100, the data generation sources includethe one or more client computing devices 102.

The client computing devices 102 may include, without limitation, one ormore: workstations, personal computers, desktop computers, or othertypes of generally fixed computing systems such as mainframe computersand minicomputers.

The client computing devices 102 can also include mobile or portablecomputing devices, such as one or more laptops, tablet computers,personal data assistants, mobile phones (such as smartphones), and othermobile or portable computing devices such as embedded computers, set topboxes, vehicle-mounted devices, wearable computers, etc.

In some cases, each client computing device 102 is associated with oneor more users and/or corresponding user accounts, of employees or otherindividuals.

The term “client computing device” is used herein because theinformation management system 100 generally “serves” the data managementand protection needs for the data generated by the client computingdevices 102. However, the use of this term does not imply that theclient computing devices 102 cannot be “servers” in other respects. Forinstance, a particular client computing device 102 may act as a serverwith respect to other devices, such as other client computing devices102. As just a few examples, the client computing devices 102 caninclude mail servers, file servers, database servers, and web servers.

The client computing devices 102 may additionally include virtualizedand/or cloud computing resources. For instance, one or more virtualmachines may be provided to the organization by a third-party cloudservice vendor. Or, in some embodiments, the client computing devices102 include one or more virtual machine(s) running on a virtual machinehost computing device operated by the organization. As one example, theorganization may use one virtual machine as a database server andanother virtual machine as a mail server. A virtual machine manager(VMM) (e.g., a Hypervisor) may manage the virtual machines, and resideand execute on the virtual machine host computing device.

Each client computing device 102 may have one or more applications 110(e.g., software applications) executing thereon which generate andmanipulate the data that is to be protected from loss.

The applications 110 generally facilitate the operations of anorganization (or multiple affiliated organizations), and can include,without limitation, mail server applications (e.g., Microsoft ExchangeServer), file server applications, mail client applications (e.g.,Microsoft Exchange Client), database applications (e.g., SQL, Oracle,SAP, Lotus Notes Database), word processing applications (e.g.,Microsoft Word), spreadsheet applications, financial applications,presentation applications, browser applications, mobile applications,entertainment applications, and so on.

The applications 110 can include at least one operating system (e.g.,Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, iOS, IBM z/OS, Linux, other Unix-basedoperating systems, etc.), which may support one or more file systems andhost the other applications 110.

As shown, the client computing devices 102 and other components in theinformation management system 100 can be connected to one another viaone or more communication pathways 114. The communication pathways 114can include one or more networks or other connection types including asany of following, without limitation: the Internet, a wide area network(WAN), a local area network (LAN), a Storage Area Network (SAN), a FibreChannel connection, a Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) connection,a virtual private network (VPN), a token ring or TCP/IP based network,an intranet network, a point-to-point link, a cellular network, awireless data transmission system, a two-way cable system, aninteractive kiosk network, a satellite network, a broadband network, abaseband network, other appropriate wired, wireless, or partiallywired/wireless computer or telecommunications networks, combinations ofthe same or the like. The communication pathways 114 in some cases mayalso include application programming interfaces (APIs) including, e.g.,cloud service provider APIs, virtual machine management APIs, and hostedservice provider APIs.

Primary Data and Exemplary Primary Storage Devices

Primary data 112 according to some embodiments is production data orother “live” data generated by the operating system and otherapplications 110 residing on a client computing device 102. The primarydata 112 is stored on the primary storage device(s) 104 and is organizedvia a file system supported by the client computing device 102. Forinstance, the client computing device(s) 102 and correspondingapplications 110 may create, access, modify, write, delete, andotherwise use primary data 112.

Primary data 112 is generally in the native format of the sourceapplication 110. According to certain aspects, primary data 112 is aninitial or first (e.g., created before any other copies or before atleast one other copy) stored copy of data generated by the sourceapplication 110. Primary data 112 in some cases is created substantiallydirectly from data generated by the corresponding source applications110.

The primary data 112 may sometimes be referred to as a “primary copy” inthe sense that it is a discrete set of data. However, the use of thisterm does not necessarily imply that the “primary copy” is a copy in thesense that it was copied or otherwise derived from another storedversion.

The primary storage devices 104 storing the primary data 112 may berelatively fast and/or expensive (e.g., a disk drive, a hard-disk array,solid state memory, etc.). In addition, primary data 112 may be intendedfor relatively short term retention (e.g., several hours, days, orweeks).

According to some embodiments, the client computing device 102 canaccess primary data 112 from the primary storage device 104 by makingconventional file system calls via the operating system. Primary data112 representing files may include structured data (e.g., databasefiles), unstructured data (e.g., documents), and/or semi-structureddata. Some specific examples are described below with respect to FIG.1B.

It can be useful in performing certain tasks to break the primary data112 up into units of different granularities. In general, primary data112 can include files, directories, file system volumes, data blocks,extents, or any other types or granularities of data objects. As usedherein, a “data object” can refer to both (1) any file that is currentlyaddressable by a file system or that was previously addressable by thefile system (e.g., an archive file) and (2) a subset of such a file.

As will be described in further detail, it can also be useful inperforming certain functions of the information management system 100 toaccess and modify metadata within the primary data 112. Metadatagenerally includes information about data objects or characteristicsassociated with the data objects.

Metadata can include, without limitation, one or more of the following:the data owner (e.g., the client or user that generates the data), thelast modified time (e.g., the time of the most recent modification ofthe data object), a data object name (e.g., a file name), a data objectsize (e.g., a number of bytes of data), information about the content(e.g., an indication as to the existence of a particular search term),to/from information for email (e.g., an email sender, recipient, etc.),creation date, file type (e.g., format or application type), lastaccessed time, application type (e.g., type of application thatgenerated the data object), location/network (e.g., a current, past orfuture location of the data object and network pathways to/from the dataobject), frequency of change (e.g., a period in which the data object ismodified), business unit (e.g., a group or department that generates,manages or is otherwise associated with the data object), and aginginformation (e.g., a schedule, such as a time period, in which the dataobject is migrated to secondary or long term storage), boot sectors,partition layouts, file location within a file folder directorystructure, user permissions, owners, groups, access control lists[ACLs]), system metadata (e.g., registry information), combinations ofthe same or the like.

In addition to metadata generated by or related to file systems andoperating systems, some of the applications 110 maintain indices ofmetadata for data objects, e.g., metadata associated with individualemail messages. Thus, each data object may be associated withcorresponding metadata. The use of metadata to perform classificationand other functions is described in greater detail below.

Each of the client computing devices 102 are associated with and/or incommunication with one or more of the primary storage devices 104storing corresponding primary data 112. A client computing device 102may be considered to be “associated with” or “in communication with” aprimary storage device 104 if it is capable of one or more of: storingdata to the primary storage device 104, retrieving data from the primarystorage device 104, and modifying data retrieved from a primary storagedevice 104.

The primary storage devices 104 can include, without limitation, diskdrives, hard-disk arrays, semiconductor memory (e.g., solid statedrives), and network attached storage (NAS) devices. In some cases, theprimary storage devices 104 form part of a distributed file system. Theprimary storage devices 104 may have relatively fast I/O times and/orare relatively expensive in comparison to the secondary storage devices108. For example, the information management system 100 may generallyregularly access data and metadata stored on primary storage devices104, whereas data and metadata stored on the secondary storage devices108 is accessed relatively less frequently.

In some cases, each primary storage device 104 is dedicated to anassociated client computing devices 102. For instance, a primary storagedevice 104 in one embodiment is a local disk drive of a correspondingclient computing device 102. In other cases, one or more primary storagedevices 104 can be shared by multiple client computing devices 102. Asone example, a primary storage device 104 can be a disk array shared bya group of client computing devices 102, such as one of the followingtypes of disk arrays: EMC Clariion, EMC Symmetrix, EMC Celerra, DellEqualLogic, IBM XIV, NetApp FAS, HP EVA, and HP 3PAR.

The information management system 100 may also include hosted services(not shown), which may be hosted in some cases by an entity other thanthe organization that employs the other components of the informationmanagement system 100. For instance, the hosted services may be providedby various online service providers to the organization. Such serviceproviders can provide services including social networking services,hosted email services, or hosted productivity applications or otherhosted applications).

Hosted services may include software-as-a-service (SaaS),platform-as-a-service (PaaS), application service providers (ASPs),cloud services, or other mechanisms for delivering functionality via anetwork. As it provides services to users, each hosted service maygenerate additional data and metadata under management of theinformation management system 100, e.g., as primary data 112. In somecases, the hosted services may be accessed using one of the applications110. As an example, a hosted mail service may be accessed via browserrunning on a client computing device 102.

Secondary Copies and Exemplary Secondary Storage Devices

The primary data 112 stored on the primary storage devices 104 may becompromised in some cases, such as when an employee deliberately oraccidentally deletes or overwrites primary data 112 during their normalcourse of work. Or the primary storage devices 104 can be damaged orotherwise corrupted.

For recovery and/or regulatory compliance purposes, it is thereforeuseful to generate copies of the primary data 112. Accordingly, theinformation management system 100 includes one or more secondary storagecomputing devices 106 and one or more secondary storage devices 108configured to create and store one or more secondary copies 116 of theprimary data 112 and associated metadata. The secondary storagecomputing devices 106 and the secondary storage devices 108 may bereferred to in some cases as a secondary storage subsystem 118.

Creation of secondary copies 116 can help meet information managementgoals, such as: restoring data and/or metadata if an original version(e.g., of primary data 112) is lost (e.g., by deletion, corruption, ordisaster); allowing point-in-time recovery; complying with regulatorydata retention and electronic discovery (e-discovery) requirements;reducing utilized storage capacity; facilitating organization and searchof data; improving user access to data files across multiple computingdevices and/or hosted services; and implementing data retentionpolicies.

Types of secondary copy operations can include, without limitation,backup operations, archive operations, snapshot operations, replicationoperations (e.g., continuous data replication [CDR]), data retentionpolicies such as information lifecycle management and hierarchicalstorage management operations, and the like. These specific typesoperations are discussed in greater detail below.

Regardless of the type of secondary copy operation, the client computingdevices 102 access or receive primary data 112 and communicate the data,e.g., over the communication pathways 114, for storage in the secondarystorage device(s) 108.

A secondary copy 116 can comprise a separate stored copy of applicationdata that is derived from one or more earlier created, stored copies(e.g., derived from primary data 112 or another secondary copy 116).Secondary copies 116 can include point-in-time data, and may be intendedfor relatively long-term retention (e.g., weeks, months or years),before some or all of the data is moved to other storage or isdiscarded.

In some cases, a secondary copy 116 is a copy of application datacreated and stored subsequent to at least one other stored instance(e.g., subsequent to corresponding primary data 112 or to anothersecondary copy 116), in a different storage device than at least oneprevious stored copy, and/or remotely from at least one previous storedcopy. Secondary copies 116 may be stored in relatively slow and/or lowcost storage (e.g., magnetic tape). A secondary copy 116 may be storedin a backup or archive format, or in some other format different thanthe native source application format or other primary data format.

In some cases, secondary copies 116 are indexed so users can browse andrestore at another point in time. After creation of a secondary copy 116representative of certain primary data 112, a pointer or other locationindicia (e.g., a stub) may be placed in primary data 112, or beotherwise associated with primary data 112 to indicate the currentlocation on the secondary storage device(s) 108.

Since an instance a data object or metadata in primary data 112 maychange over time as it is modified by an application 110 (or hostedservice or the operating system), the information management system 100may create and manage multiple secondary copies 116 of a particular dataobject or metadata, each representing the state of the data object inprimary data 112 at a particular point in time. Moreover, since aninstance of a data object in primary data 112 may eventually be deletedfrom the primary storage device 104 and the file system, the informationmanagement system 100 may continue to manage point-in-timerepresentations of that data object, even though the instance in primarydata 112 no longer exists.

For virtualized computing devices the operating system and otherapplications 110 of the client computing device(s) 102 may executewithin or under the management of virtualization software (e.g., a VMM),and the primary storage device(s) 104 may comprise a virtual diskcreated on a physical storage device. The information management system100 may create secondary copies 116 of the files or other data objectsin a virtual disk file and/or secondary copies 116 of the entire virtualdisk file itself (e.g., of an entire .vmdk file).

Secondary copies 116 may be distinguished from corresponding primarydata 112 in a variety of ways, some of which will now be described.First, as discussed, secondary copies 116 can be stored in a differentformat (e.g., backup, archive, or other non-native format) than primarydata 112. For this or other reasons, secondary copies 116 may not bedirectly useable by the applications 110 of the client computing device102, e.g., via standard system calls or otherwise without modification,processing, or other intervention by the information management system100.

Secondary copies 116 are also often stored on a secondary storage device108 that is inaccessible to the applications 110 running on the clientcomputing devices 102 (and/or hosted services). Some secondary copies116 may be “offline copies,” in that they are not readily available(e.g. not mounted to tape or disk). Offline copies can include copies ofdata that the information management system 100 can access without humanintervention (e.g. tapes within an automated tape library, but not yetmounted in a drive), and copies that the information management system100 can access only with at least some human intervention (e.g. tapeslocated at an offsite storage site).

The secondary storage devices 108 can include any suitable type ofstorage device such as, without limitation, one or more tape libraries,disk drives or other magnetic, non-tape storage devices, optical mediastorage devices, solid state storage devices, NAS devices, combinationsof the same, and the like. In some cases, the secondary storage devices108 are provided in a cloud (e.g. a private cloud or one operated by athird-party vendor).

The secondary storage device(s) 108 in some cases comprises a disk arrayor a portion thereof. In some cases, a single storage device (e.g., adisk array) is used for storing both primary data 112 and at least somesecondary copies 116. In one example, a disk array capable of performinghardware snapshots stores primary data 112 and creates and storeshardware snapshots of the primary data 112 as secondary copies 116.

The Use of Intermediary Devices for Creating Secondary Copies

Creating secondary copies can be a challenging task. For instance, therecan be hundreds or thousands of client computing devices 102 continuallygenerating large volumes of primary data 112 to be protected. Also,there can be significant overhead involved in the creation of secondarycopies 116. Moreover, secondary storage devices 108 may be specialpurpose components, and interacting with them can require specializedintelligence.

In some cases, the client computing devices 102 interact directly withthe secondary storage device 108 to create the secondary copies 116.However, in view of the factors described above, this approach cannegatively impact the ability of the client computing devices 102 toserve the applications 110 and produce primary data 112. Further, theclient computing devices 102 may not be optimized for interaction withthe secondary storage devices 108.

Thus, in some embodiments, the information management system 100includes one or more software and/or hardware components which generallyact as intermediaries between the client computing devices 102 and thesecondary storage devices 108. In addition to off-loading certainresponsibilities from the client computing devices 102, theseintermediary components can provide other benefits. For instance, asdiscussed further below with respect to FIG. 1D, distributing some ofthe work involved in creating secondary copies 116 can enhancescalability.

The intermediary components can include one or more secondary storagecomputing devices 106 as shown in FIG. 1A and/or one or more mediaagents, which can be software modules residing on correspondingsecondary storage computing devices 106 (or other appropriate devices).Media agents are discussed below (e.g., with respect to FIGS. 1C-1E).

The secondary storage computing device(s) 106 can comprise anyappropriate type of computing device and can include, withoutlimitation, any of the types of fixed and portable computing devicesdescribed above with respect to the client computing devices 102. Insome cases, the secondary storage computing device(s) 106 includespecialized hardware and/or software componentry for interacting withthe secondary storage devices 108.

To create a secondary copy 116, the client computing device 102communicates the primary data 112 to be copied (or a processed versionthereof) to the designated secondary storage computing device 106, viathe communication pathway 114. The secondary storage computing device106 in turn conveys the received data (or a processed version thereof)to the secondary storage device 108. In some such configurations, thecommunication pathway 114 between the client computing device 102 andthe secondary storage computing device 106 comprises a portion of a LAN,WAN or SAN. In other cases, at least some client computing devices 102communicate directly with the secondary storage devices 108 (e.g., viaFibre Channel or SCSI connections).

Exemplary Primary Data and an Exemplary Secondary Copy

FIG. 1B is a detailed view showing some specific examples of primarydata stored on the primary storage device(s) 104 and secondary copy datastored on the secondary storage device(s) 108, with other components inthe system removed for the purposes of illustration. Stored on theprimary storage device(s) 104 are primary data objects including wordprocessing documents 119A-B, spreadsheets 120, presentation documents122, video files 124, image files 126, email mailboxes 128 (andcorresponding email messages 129A-C), html/xml or other types of markuplanguage files 130, databases 132 and corresponding tables 133A-133C).

Some or all primary data objects are associated with a primary copy ofobject metadata (e.g., “Meta1-11”), which may be file system metadataand/or application specific metadata. Stored on the secondary storagedevice(s) 108 are secondary copy objects 134A-C which may include copiesof or otherwise represent corresponding primary data objects andmetadata.

As shown, the secondary copy objects 134A-C can individually representmore than one primary data object. For example, secondary copy dataobject 134A represents three separate primary data objects 133C, 122 and129C (represented as 133C′, 122′ and 129C′, respectively). Moreover, asindicated by the prime mark (′), a secondary copy object may store arepresentation of a primary data object or metadata differently than theoriginal format, e.g., in a compressed, encrypted, deduplicated, orother modified format.

Exemplary Information Management System Architecture

The information management system 100 can incorporate a variety ofdifferent hardware and software components, which can in turn beorganized with respect to one another in many different configurations,depending on the embodiment. There are critical design choices involvedin specifying the functional responsibilities of the components and therole of each component in the information management system 100. Forinstance, as will be discussed, such design choices can impactperformance as well as the adaptability of the information managementsystem 100 to data growth or other changing circumstances.

FIG. 1C shows an information management system 100 designed according tothese considerations and which includes: a central storage orinformation manager 140 configured to perform certain control functions,one or more data agents 142 executing on the client computing device(s)102 configured to process primary data 112, and one or more media agents144 executing on the one or more secondary storage computing devices 106for performing tasks involving the secondary storage devices 108.

Storage Manager

As noted, the number of components in the information management system100 and the amount of data under management can be quite large. Managingthe components and data is therefore a significant task, and a task thatcan grow in an often unpredictable fashion as the quantity of componentsand data scale to meet the needs of the organization.

For these and other reasons, according to certain embodiments,responsibility for controlling the information management system 100, orat least a significant portion of that responsibility, is allocated tothe storage manager 140.

By distributing control functionality in this manner, the storagemanager 140 can be adapted independently according to changingcircumstances. Moreover, a host computing device can be selected to bestsuit the functions of the storage manager 140. These and otheradvantages are described in further detail below with respect to FIG.1D.

The storage manager 140 may be a software module or other application.The storage manager generally initiates, coordinates and/or controlsstorage and other information management operations performed by theinformation management system 100, e.g., to protect and control theprimary data 112 and secondary copies 116 of data and metadata.

As shown by the dashed, arrowed lines, the storage manager 140 maycommunicate with and/or control some or all elements of the informationmanagement system 100, such as the data agents 142 and media agents 144.Thus, in certain embodiments, control information originates from thestorage manager 140, whereas payload data and metadata is generallycommunicated between the data agents 142 and the media agents 144 (orotherwise between the client computing device(s) 102 and the secondarystorage computing device(s) 106), e.g., at the direction of the storagemanager 140. In other embodiments, some information managementoperations are controlled by other components in the informationmanagement system 100 (e.g., the media agent(s) 144 or data agent(s)142), instead of or in combination with the storage manager 140.

According to certain embodiments, the storage manager provides one ormore of the following functions:

-   -   initiating execution of secondary copy operations;    -   managing secondary storage devices 108 and inventory/capacity of        the same;    -   allocating secondary storage devices 108 for secondary storage        operations;    -   monitoring completion of and providing status reporting related        to secondary storage operations;    -   tracking age information relating to secondary copies 116,        secondary storage devices 108, and comparing the age information        against retention guidelines;    -   tracking movement of data within the information management        system 100;    -   tracking logical associations between components in the        information management system 100;    -   protecting metadata associated with the information management        system 100; and    -   implementing operations management functionality;

The storage manager 140 may maintain a database 146 ofmanagement-related data and information management policies 148. Thedatabase 146 may include a management index 150 or other data structurethat stores logical associations between components of the system, userpreferences and/or profiles (e.g., preferences regarding encryption,compression, or deduplication of primary or secondary copy data,preferences regarding the scheduling, type, or other aspects of primaryor secondary copy or other operations, mappings of particularinformation management users or user accounts to certain computingdevices or other components, etc.), management tasks, mediacontainerization, or other useful data. For example, the storage manager140 may use the index 150 to track logical associations between mediaagents 144 and secondary storage devices 108 and/or movement of datafrom primary storage devices 104 to secondary storage devices 108.

Administrators and other employees may be able to manually configure andinitiate certain information management operations on an individualbasis. But while this may be acceptable for some recovery operations orother relatively less frequent tasks, it is often not workable forimplementing on-going organization-wide data protection and management.

Thus, the information management system 100 may utilize informationmanagement policies 148 for specifying and executing informationmanagement operations (e.g., on an automated basis). Generally, aninformation management policy 148 can include a data structure or otherinformation source that specifies a set of parameters (e.g., criteriaand rules) associated with storage or other information managementoperations.

The storage manager database 146 may maintain the information managementpolicies 148 and associated data, although the information managementpolicies 148 can be stored in any appropriate location. For instance, astorage policy may be stored as metadata in a media agent database 152or in a secondary storage device 108 (e.g., as an archive copy) for usein restore operations or other information management operations,depending on the embodiment. Information management policies 148 aredescribed further below.

According to certain embodiments, the storage manager database 146comprises a relational database (e.g., an SQL database) for trackingmetadata, such as metadata associated with secondary copy operations(e.g., what client computing devices 102 and corresponding data wereprotected). This and other metadata may additionally be stored in otherlocations, such as at the secondary storage computing devices 106 or onthe secondary storage devices 108, allowing data recovery without theuse of the storage manager 140.

As shown, the storage manager 140 may include a jobs agent 156, a userinterface 158, and a management agent 154, all of which may beimplemented as interconnected software modules or application programs.

The jobs agent 156 in some embodiments initiates, controls, and/ormonitors the status of some or all storage or other informationmanagement operations previously performed, currently being performed,or scheduled to be performed by the information management system 100.For instance, the jobs agent 156 may access information managementpolicies 148 to determine when and how to initiate and control secondarycopy and other information management operations, as will be discussedfurther.

The user interface 158 may include information processing and displaysoftware, such as a graphical user interface (“GUI”), an applicationprogram interface (“API”), or other interactive interface through whichusers and system processes can retrieve information about the status ofinformation management operations (e.g., storage operations) or issueinstructions to the information management system 100 and itsconstituent components.

The storage manager 140 may also track information that permits it toselect, designate, or otherwise identify content indices, deduplicationdatabases, or similar databases or resources or data sets within itsinformation management cell (or another cell) to be searched in responseto certain queries. Such queries may be entered by the user viainteraction with the user interface 158.

Via the user interface 158, users may optionally issue instructions tothe components in the information management system 100 regardingperformance of storage and recovery operations. For example, a user maymodify a schedule concerning the number of pending secondary copyoperations. As another example, a user may employ the GUI to view thestatus of pending storage operations or to monitor the status of certaincomponents in the information management system 100 (e.g., the amount ofcapacity left in a storage device).

In general, the management agent 154 allows multiple informationmanagement systems 100 to communicate with one another. For example, theinformation management system 100 in some cases may be one informationmanagement subsystem or “cell” of a network of multiple cells adjacentto one another or otherwise logically related in a WAN or LAN. With thisarrangement, the cells may be connected to one another throughrespective management agents 154.

For instance, the management agent 154 can provide the storage manager140 with the ability to communicate with other components within theinformation management system 100 (and/or other cells within a largerinformation management system) via network protocols and applicationprogramming interfaces (“APIs”) including, e.g., HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, REST,virtualization software APIs, cloud service provider APIs, and hostedservice provider APIs. Inter-cell communication and hierarchy isdescribed in greater detail in U.S. Pat. No. 7,035,880, which isincorporated by reference herein.

Data Agents

As discussed, a variety of different types of applications 110 canreside on a given client computing device 102, including operatingsystems, database applications, e-mail applications, and virtualmachines, just to name a few. And, as part of the as part of the processof creating and restoring secondary copies 116, the client computingdevices 102 may be tasked with processing and preparing the primary data112 from these various different applications 110. Moreover, the natureof the processing/preparation can differ across clients and applicationtypes, e.g., due to inherent structural and formatting differencesbetween applications 110.

The one or more data agent(s) 142 are therefore advantageouslyconfigured in some embodiments to assist in the performance ofinformation management operations based on the type of data that isbeing protected, at a client-specific and/or application-specific level.

The data agent 142 may be a software module or component that isgenerally responsible for managing, initiating, or otherwise assistingin the performance of information management operations. For instance,the data agent 142 may take part in performing data storage operationssuch as the copying, archiving, migrating, replicating of primary data112 stored in the primary storage device(s) 104. The data agent 142 mayreceive control information from the storage manager 140, such ascommands to transfer copies of data objects, metadata, and other payloaddata to the media agents 144.

In some embodiments, a data agent 142 may be distributed between theclient computing device 102 and storage manager 140 (and any otherintermediate components) or may be deployed from a remote location orits functions approximated by a remote process that performs some or allof the functions of data agent 142. In addition, a data agent 142 mayperform some functions provided by a media agent 144, e.g., encryptionand deduplication.

As indicated, each data agent 142 may be specialized for a particularapplication 110, and the system can employ multiple data agents 142,each of which may backup, migrate, and recover data associated with adifferent application 110. For instance, different individual dataagents 142 may be designed to handle Microsoft Exchange data, LotusNotes data, Microsoft Windows file system data, Microsoft ActiveDirectory Objects data, SQL Server data, SharePoint data, Oracledatabase data, SAP database data, virtual machines and/or associateddata, and other types of data.

A file system data agent, for example, may handle data files and/orother file system information. If a client computing device 102 has twoor more types of data, one data agent 142 may be used for each data typeto copy, archive, migrate, and restore the client computing device 102data. For example, to backup, migrate, and restore all of the data on aMicrosoft Exchange server, the client computing device 102 may use oneMicrosoft Exchange Mailbox data agent 142 to backup the Exchangemailboxes, one Microsoft Exchange Database data agent 142 to backup theExchange databases, one Microsoft Exchange Public Folder data agent 142to backup the Exchange Public Folders, and one Microsoft Windows FileSystem data agent 142 to backup the file system of the client computingdevice 102. In such embodiments, these data agents 142 may be treated asfour separate data agents 142 even though they reside on the same clientcomputing device 102.

Other embodiments may employ one or more generic data agents 142 thatcan handle and process data from two or more different applications 110,or that can handle and process multiple data types, instead of or inaddition to using specialized data agents 142. For example, one genericdata agent 142 may be used to back up, migrate and restore MicrosoftExchange Mailbox data and Microsoft Exchange Database data while anothergeneric data agent may handle Microsoft Exchange Public Folder data andMicrosoft Windows File System data.

Each data agent 142 may be configured to access data and/or metadatastored in the primary storage device(s) 104 associated with the dataagent 142 and process the data as appropriate. For example, during asecondary copy operation, the data agent 142 may arrange or assemble thedata and metadata into one or more files having a certain format (e.g.,a particular backup or archive format) before transferring the file(s)to a media agent 144 or other component. The file(s) may include a listof files or other metadata. Each data agent 142 can also assist inrestoring data or metadata to primary storage devices 104 from asecondary copy 116. For instance, the data agent 142 may operate inconjunction with the storage manager 140 and one or more of the mediaagents 144 to restore data from secondary storage device(s) 108.

Media Agents

As indicated above with respect to FIG. 1A, off-loading certainresponsibilities from the client computing devices 102 to intermediarycomponents such as the media agent(s) 144 can provide a number ofbenefits including improved client computing device 102 operation,faster secondary copy operation performance, and enhanced scalability.As one specific example which will be discussed below in further detail,the media agent 144 can act as a local cache of copied data and/ormetadata that it has stored to the secondary storage device(s) 108,providing improved restore capabilities.

Generally speaking, a media agent 144 may be implemented as a softwaremodule that manages, coordinates, and facilitates the transmission ofdata, as directed by the storage manager 140, between a client computingdevice 102 and one or more secondary storage devices 108. Whereas thestorage manager 140 controls the operation of the information managementsystem 100, the media agent 144 generally provides a portal to secondarystorage devices 108.

Media agents 144 can comprise logically and/or physically separate nodesin the information management system 100 (e.g., separate from the clientcomputing devices 102, storage manager 140, and/or secondary storagedevices 108). In addition, each media agent 144 may reside on adedicated secondary storage computing device 106 in some cases, while inother embodiments a plurality of media agents 144 reside on the samesecondary storage computing device 106.

A media agent 144 (and corresponding media agent database 152) may beconsidered to be “associated with” a particular secondary storage device108 if that media agent 144 is capable of one or more of: routing and/orstoring data to the particular secondary storage device 108,coordinating the routing and/or storing of data to the particularsecondary storage device 108, retrieving data from the particularsecondary storage device 108, and coordinating the retrieval of datafrom a particular secondary storage device 108.

While media agent(s) 144 are generally associated with one or moresecondary storage devices 108, the media agents 144 in certainembodiments are physically separate from the secondary storage devices108. For instance, the media agents 144 may reside on secondary storagecomputing devices 106 having different housings or packages than thesecondary storage devices 108. In one example, a media agent 144 resideson a first server computer and is in communication with a secondarystorage device(s) 108 residing in a separate, rack-mounted RAID-basedsystem.

In operation, a media agent 144 associated with a particular secondarystorage device 108 may instruct the secondary storage device 108 (e.g.,a tape library) to use a robotic arm or other retrieval means to load oreject a certain storage media, and to subsequently archive, migrate, orretrieve data to or from that media, e.g., for the purpose of restoringthe data to a client computing device 102. The media agent 144 maycommunicate with a secondary storage device 108 via a suitablecommunications link, such as a SCSI or Fiber Channel link.

As shown, each media agent 144 may maintain an associated media agentdatabase 152. The media agent database 152 may be stored in a disk orother storage device (not shown) that is local to the secondary storagecomputing device 106 on which the media agent 144 resides. In othercases, the media agent database 152 is stored remotely from thesecondary storage computing device 106.

The media agent database 152 can include, among other things, an index153 including data generated during secondary copy operations and otherstorage or information management operations. The index 153 provides amedia agent 144 or other component with a fast and efficient mechanismfor locating secondary copies 116 or other data stored in the secondarystorage devices 108. In one configuration, a storage manager index 150or other data structure may store data associating a client computingdevice 102 with a particular media agent 144 and/or secondary storagedevice 108, as specified in a storage policy. A media agent index 153 orother data structure associated with the particular media agent 144 mayin turn include information about the stored data.

For instance, for each secondary copy 116, the index 153 may includemetadata such as a list of the data objects (e.g., files/subdirectories,database objects, mailbox objects, etc.), a path to the secondary copy116 on the corresponding secondary storage device 108, locationinformation indicating where the data objects are stored in thesecondary storage device 108, when the data objects were created ormodified, etc. Thus, the index 153 includes metadata associated with thesecondary copies 116 that is readily available for use in storageoperations and other activities without having to be first retrievedfrom the secondary storage device 108. In yet further embodiments, someor all of the data in the index 153 may instead or additionally bestored along with the data in a secondary storage device 108, e.g., witha copy of the index 153.

Because the index 153 maintained in the database 152 may operate as acache, it can also be referred to as an index cache. In such cases,information stored in the index cache 153 typically comprises data thatreflects certain particulars about storage operations that have occurredrelatively recently. After some triggering event, such as after acertain period of time elapses, or the index cache 153 reaches aparticular size, the index cache 153 may be copied or migrated to asecondary storage device(s) 108. This information may need to beretrieved and uploaded back into the index cache 153 or otherwiserestored to a media agent 144 to facilitate retrieval of data from thesecondary storage device(s) 108. In some embodiments, the cachedinformation may include format or containerization information relatedto archives or other files stored on the storage device(s) 108. In thismanner, the index cache 153 allows for accelerated restores.

In some alternative embodiments the media agent 144 generally acts as acoordinator or facilitator of storage operations between clientcomputing devices 102 and corresponding secondary storage devices 108,but does not actually write the data to the secondary storage device108. For instance, the storage manager 140 (or the media agent 144) mayinstruct a client computing device 102 and secondary storage device 108to communicate with one another directly. In such a case the clientcomputing device 102 transmits the data directly to the secondarystorage device 108 according to the received instructions, and viceversa. In some such cases, the media agent 144 may still receive,process, and/or maintain metadata related to the storage operations.Moreover, in these embodiments, the payload data can flow through themedia agent 144 for the purposes of populating the index cache 153maintained in the media agent database 152, but not for writing to thesecondary storage device 108.

The media agent 144 and/or other components such as the storage manager140 may in some cases incorporate additional functionality, such as dataclassification, content indexing, deduplication, encryption,compression, and the like. Further details regarding these and otherfunctions are described below.

Distributed, Scalable Architecture

As described, certain functions of the information management system 100can be distributed amongst various physical and/or logical components inthe system. For instance, one or more of the storage manager 140, dataagents 142, and media agents 144 may reside on computing devices thatare physically separate from one another. This architecture can providea number of benefits.

For instance, hardware and software design choices for each distributedcomponent can be targeted to suit its particular function. The secondarycomputing devices 106 on which the media agents 144 reside can betailored for interaction with associated secondary storage devices 108and provide fast index cache operation, among other specific tasks.Similarly, the client computing device(s) 102 can be selected toeffectively service the applications 110 residing thereon, in order toefficiently produce and store primary data 112.

Moreover, in some cases, one or more of the individual components in theinformation management system 100 can be distributed to multiple,separate computing devices. As one example, for large file systems wherethe amount of data stored in the storage management database 146 isrelatively large, the management database 146 may be migrated to orotherwise reside on a specialized database server (e.g., an SQL server)separate from a server that implements the other functions of thestorage manager 140. This configuration can provide added protectionbecause the database 146 can be protected with standard databaseutilities (e.g., SQL log shipping or database replication) independentfrom other functions of the storage manager 140. The database 146 can beefficiently replicated to a remote site for use in the event of adisaster or other data loss incident at the primary site. Or thedatabase 146 can be replicated to another computing device within thesame site, such as to a higher performance machine in the event that astorage manager host device can no longer service the needs of a growinginformation management system 100.

The distributed architecture also provides both scalability andefficient component utilization. FIG. 1D shows an embodiment of theinformation management system 100 including a plurality of clientcomputing devices 102 and associated data agents 142 as well as aplurality of secondary storage computing devices 106 and associatedmedia agents 144.

Additional components can be added or subtracted based on the evolvingneeds of the information management system 100. For instance, dependingon where bottlenecks are identified, administrators can add additionalclient computing devices 102, secondary storage devices 106 (andcorresponding media agents 144), and/or secondary storage devices 108.

Moreover, each client computing device 102 in some embodiments cancommunicate with any of the media agents 144, e.g., as directed by thestorage manager 140. And each media agent 144 may be able to communicatewith any of the secondary storage devices 108, e.g., as directed by thestorage manager 140. Thus, operations can be routed to the secondarystorage devices 108 in a dynamic and highly flexible manner. Furtherexamples of scalable systems capable of dynamic storage operations areprovided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,246,207, which is incorporated by referenceherein.

In alternative configurations, certain components are not distributedand may instead reside and execute on the same computing device. Forexample, in some embodiments one or more data agents 142 and the storagemanager 140 reside on the same client computing device 102. In anotherembodiment, one or more data agents 142 and one or more media agents 144reside on a single computing device.

Exemplary Types of Information Management Operations

In order to protect and leverage stored data, the information managementsystem 100 can be configured to perform a variety of informationmanagement operations. As will be described, these operations cangenerally include secondary copy and other data movement operations,processing and data manipulation operations, and management operations.

Data Movement Operations

Data movement operations according to certain embodiments are generallyoperations that involve the copying or migration of data (e.g., payloaddata) between different locations in the information management system100. For example, data movement operations can include operations inwhich stored data is copied, migrated, or otherwise transferred fromprimary storage device(s) 104 to secondary storage device(s) 108, fromsecondary storage device(s) 108 to different secondary storage device(s)108, or from primary storage device(s) 104 to different primary storagedevice(s) 104.

Data movement operations can include by way of example, backupoperations, archive operations, information lifecycle managementoperations such as hierarchical storage management operations,replication operations (e.g., continuous data replication operations),snapshot operations, deduplication operations, single-instancingoperations, auxiliary copy operations, and the like. As will bediscussed, some of these operations involve the copying, migration orother movement of data, without actually creating multiple, distinctcopies. Nonetheless, some or all of these operations are referred to as“copy” operations for simplicity.

Backup Operations

A backup operation creates a copy of primary data 112 at a particularpoint in time. Each subsequent backup copy may be maintainedindependently of the first. Further, a backup copy in some embodimentsis stored in a backup format. This can be in contrast to the version inprimary data 112 from which the backup copy is derived, and which mayinstead be stored in a native format of the source application(s) 110.In various cases, backup copies can be stored in a format in which thedata is compressed, encrypted, deduplicated, and/or otherwise modifiedfrom the original application format. For example, a backup copy may bestored in a backup format that facilitates compression and/or efficientlong-term storage.

Backup copies can have relatively long retention periods as compared toprimary data 112, and may be stored on media with slower retrieval timesthan primary data 112 and certain other types of secondary copies 116.On the other hand, backups may have relatively shorter retention periodsthan some other types of secondary copies 116, such as archive copies(described below). Backups may sometimes be stored at on offsitelocation.

Backup operations can include full, synthetic or incremental backups. Afull backup in some embodiments is generally a complete image of thedata to be protected. However, because full backup copies can consume arelatively large amount of storage, it can be useful to use a fullbackup copy as a baseline and only store changes relative to the fullbackup copy for subsequent backup copies.

For instance, a differential backup operation (or cumulative incrementalbackup operation) tracks and stores changes that have occurred since thelast full backup. Differential backups can grow quickly in size, but canprovide relatively efficient restore times because a restore can becompleted in some cases using only the full backup copy and the latestdifferential copy.

An incremental backup operation generally tracks and stores changessince the most recent backup copy of any type, which can greatly reducestorage utilization. In some cases, however, restore times can berelatively long in comparison to full or differential backups becausecompleting a restore operation may involve accessing a full backup inaddition to multiple incremental backups.

Any of the above types of backup operations can be at the file-level,e.g., where the information management system 100 generally trackschanges to files at the file-level, and includes copies of files in thebackup copy. In other cases, block-level backups are employed, wherefiles are broken into constituent blocks, and changes are tracked at theblock-level. Upon restore, the information management system 100reassembles the blocks into files in a transparent fashion.

Far less data may actually be transferred and copied to the secondarystorage devices 108 during a block-level copy than during a file-levelcopy, resulting in faster execution times. However, when restoring ablock-level copy, the process of locating constituent blocks cansometimes result in longer restore times as compared to file-levelbackups. Similar to backup operations, the other types of secondary copyoperations described herein can also be implemented at either thefile-level or the block-level.

Archive Operations

Because backup operations generally involve maintaining a version of thecopied data in primary data 112 and also maintaining backup copies insecondary storage device(s) 108, they can consume significant storagecapacity. To help reduce storage consumption, an archive operationaccording to certain embodiments creates a secondary copy 116 by bothcopying and removing source data. Or, seen another way, archiveoperations can involve moving some or all of the source data to thearchive destination. Thus, data satisfying criteria for removal (e.g.,data of a threshold age or size) from the source copy may be removedfrom source storage. Archive copies are sometimes stored in an archiveformat or other non-native application format. The source data may beprimary data 112 or a secondary copy 116, depending on the situation. Aswith backup copies, archive copies can be stored in a format in whichthe data is compressed, encrypted, deduplicated, and/or otherwisemodified from the original application format.

In addition, archive copies may be retained for relatively long periodsof time (e.g., years) and, in some cases, are never deleted. Archivecopies are generally retained for longer periods of time than backupcopies, for example. In certain embodiments, archive copies may be madeand kept for extended periods in order to meet compliance regulations.

Moreover, when primary data 112 is archived, in some cases the archivedprimary data 112 or a portion thereof is deleted when creating thearchive copy. Thus, archiving can serve the purpose of freeing up spacein the primary storage device(s) 104. Similarly, when a secondary copy116 is archived, the secondary copy 116 may be deleted, and an archivecopy can therefore serve the purpose of freeing up space in secondarystorage device(s) 108. In contrast, source copies often remain intactwhen creating backup copies.

Snapshot Operations

Snapshot operations can provide a relatively lightweight, efficientmechanism for protecting data. From an end-user viewpoint, a snapshotmay be thought of as an “instant” image of the primary data 112 at agiven point in time. In one embodiment, a snapshot may generally capturethe directory structure of an object in primary data 112 such as a fileor volume or other data set at a particular moment in time and may alsopreserve file attributes and contents. A snapshot in some cases iscreated relatively quickly, e.g., substantially instantly, using aminimum amount of file space, but may still function as a conventionalfile system backup.

A snapshot copy in many cases can be made quickly and withoutsignificantly impacting primary computing resources because largeamounts of data need not be copied or moved. In some embodiments, asnapshot may exist as a virtual file system, parallel to the actual filesystem. Users in some cases gain read-only access to the record of filesand directories of the snapshot. By electing to restore primary data 112from a snapshot taken at a given point in time, users may also returnthe current file system to the state of the file system that existedwhen the snapshot was taken.

Some types of snapshots do not actually create another physical copy ofall the data as it existed at the particular point in time, but maysimply create pointers that are able to map files and directories tospecific memory locations (e.g., disk blocks) where the data resides, asit existed at the particular point in time. For example, a snapshot copymay include a set of pointers derived from the file system or anapplication. Each pointer points to a respective stored data block, socollectively, the set of pointers reflect the storage location and stateof the data object (e.g., file(s) or volume(s) or data set(s)) at aparticular point in time when the snapshot copy was created.

In some embodiments, once a snapshot has been taken, subsequent changesto the file system typically do not overwrite the blocks in use at thetime of the snapshot. Therefore, the initial snapshot may use only asmall amount of disk space needed to record a mapping or other datastructure representing or otherwise tracking the blocks that correspondto the current state of the file system. Additional disk space isusually required only when files and directories are actually modifiedlater. Furthermore, when files are modified, typically only the pointerswhich map to blocks are copied, not the blocks themselves. In someembodiments, for example in the case of “copy-on-write” snapshots, whena block changes in primary storage, the block is copied to secondarystorage or cached in primary storage before the block is overwritten inprimary storage. The snapshot mapping of file system data is alsoupdated to reflect the changed block(s) at that particular point intime. In some other cases, a snapshot includes a full physical copy ofall or substantially all of the data represented by the snapshot.Further examples of snapshot operations are provided in U.S. Pat. No.7,529,782, which is incorporated by reference herein.

Replication Operations

Another type of secondary copy operation is a replication operation.Some types of secondary copies 116 are used to periodically captureimages of primary data 112 at particular points in time (e.g., backups,archives, and snapshots). However, it can also be useful for recoverypurposes to protect primary data 112 in a more continuous fashion, byreplicating the primary data 112 substantially as changes occur. In somecases a replication copy can be a mirror copy, for instance, wherechanges made to primary data 112 are mirrored to another location (e.g.,to secondary storage device(s) 108). By copying each write operation tothe replication copy, two storage systems are kept synchronized orsubstantially synchronized so that they are virtually identical atapproximately the same time. Where entire disk volumes are mirrored,however, mirroring can require significant amount of storage space andutilizes a large amount of processing resources.

According to some embodiments storage operations are performed onreplicated data that represents a recoverable state, or “known goodstate” of a particular application running on the source system. Forinstance, in certain embodiments, known good replication copies may beviewed as copies of primary data 112. This feature allows the system todirectly access, copy, restore, backup or otherwise manipulate thereplication copies as if the data was the “live”, primary data 112. Thiscan reduce access time, storage utilization, and impact on sourceapplications 110, among other benefits.

Based on known good state information, the information management system100 can replicate sections of application data that represent arecoverable state rather than rote copying of blocks of data. Examplesof compatible replication operations (e.g., continuous data replication)are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,617,262, which is incorporated byreference herein.

Deduplication/Single-Instancing Operations

Another type of data movement operation is deduplication, which isuseful to reduce the amount of data within the system. For instance,some or all of the above-described secondary storage operations caninvolve deduplication in some fashion. New data is read, broken downinto blocks (e.g., sub-file level blocks) of a selected granularity,compared with blocks that are already stored, and only the new blocksare stored. Blocks that already exist are represented as pointers to thealready stored data.

In order to stream-line the comparison process, the informationmanagement system 100 may calculate and/or store signatures (e.g.,hashes) corresponding to the individual data blocks and compare thehashes instead of comparing entire data blocks. In some cases, only asingle instance of each element is stored, and deduplication operationsmay therefore be referred to interchangeably as “single-instancing”operations. Depending on the implementation, however, deduplication orsingle-instancing operations can store more than one instance of certaindata blocks, but nonetheless significantly reduce data redundancy.Moreover, single-instancing in some cases is distinguished fromdeduplication as a process of analyzing and reducing data at the filelevel, rather than the sub-file level.

Depending on the embodiment, deduplication blocks can be of fixed orvariable length. Using variable length blocks can provide enhanceddeduplication by responding to changes in the data stream, but caninvolve complex processing. In some cases, the information managementsystem 100 utilizes a technique for dynamically aligning deduplicationblocks (e.g., fixed-length blocks) based on changing content in the datastream, as described in U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2012/0084269, which isincorporated by reference herein.

The information management system 100 can perform deduplication in avariety of manners at a variety of locations in the informationmanagement system 100. For instance, in some embodiments, theinformation management system 100 implements “target-side” deduplicationby deduplicating data (e.g., secondary copies 116) stored in thesecondary storage devices 108. In some such cases, the media agents 144are generally configured to manage the deduplication process. Forinstance, one or more of the media agents 144 maintain a correspondingdeduplication database that stores deduplication information (e.g.,datablock signatures). Examples of such a configuration are provided inU.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2012/0150826, which is incorporated by referenceherein. Deduplication can also be performed on the “source-side” (or“client-side”), e.g., to reduce the amount of traffic between the mediaagents 144 and the client computing device(s) 102 and/or reduceredundant data stored in the primary storage devices 104. Examples ofsuch deduplication techniques are provided in U.S. Pat. Pub. No.2012/0150818, which is incorporated by reference herein.

Information Lifecycle Management and Hierarchical Storage ManagementOperations

In some embodiments, files and other data over their lifetime move frommore expensive, quick access storage to less expensive, slower accessstorage. Operations associated with moving data through various tiers ofstorage are sometimes referred to as information lifecycle management(ILM) operations.

One type of ILM operation is a hierarchical storage management (HSM)operation. A HSM operation is generally an operation for automaticallymoving data between classes of storage devices, such as betweenhigh-cost and low-cost storage devices. For instance, an HSM operationmay involve movement of data from primary storage devices 104 tosecondary storage devices 108, or between tiers of secondary storagedevices 108. With each tier, the storage devices may be progressivelyrelatively cheaper, have relatively slower access/restore times, etc.For example, movement of data between tiers may occur as data becomesless important over time.

In some embodiments, an HSM operation is similar to an archive operationin that creating an HSM copy may (though not always) involve deletingsome of the source data. For example, an HSM copy may include data fromprimary data 112 or a secondary copy 116 that is larger than a givensize threshold or older than a given age threshold and that is stored ina backup format.

Often, and unlike some types of archive copies, HSM data that is removedor aged from the source copy is replaced by a logical reference pointeror stub. The reference pointer or stub can be stored in the primarystorage device 104 to replace the deleted data in primary data 112 (orother source copy) and to point to or otherwise indicate the newlocation in a secondary storage device 108.

According to one example, files are generally moved between higher andlower cost storage depending on how often the files are accessed. When auser requests access to the HSM data that has been removed or migrated,the information management system 100 uses the stub to locate the dataand often make recovery of the data appear transparent, even though theHSM data may be stored at a location different from the remaining sourcedata. The stub may also include some metadata associated with thecorresponding data, so that a file system and/or application can providesome information about the data object and/or a limited-functionalityversion (e.g., a preview) of the data object.

An HSM copy may be stored in a format other than the native applicationformat (e.g., where the data is compressed, encrypted, deduplicated,and/or otherwise modified from the original application format). In somecases, copies which involve the removal of data from source storage andthe maintenance of stub or other logical reference information on sourcestorage may be referred to generally as “on-line archive copies”. On theother hand, copies which involve the removal of data from source storagewithout the maintenance of stub or other logical reference informationon source storage may be referred to as “off-line archive copies”.

Auxiliary Copy and Disaster Recovery Operations

An auxiliary copy is generally a copy operation in which a copy iscreated of an existing secondary copy 116. For instance, an initial or“primary” secondary copy 116 may be generated using or otherwise bederived from primary data 112, whereas an auxiliary copy is generatedfrom the initial secondary copy 116. Auxiliary copies can be used tocreate additional standby copies of data and may reside on differentsecondary storage devices 108 than initial secondary copies 116. Thus,auxiliary copies can be used for recovery purposes if initial secondarycopies 116 become unavailable. Exemplary compatible auxiliary copytechniques are described in further detail in U.S. Pat. No. 8,230,195,which is incorporated by reference herein.

The information management system 100 may also perform disaster recoveryoperations that make or retain disaster recovery copies, often assecondary, high-availability disk copies. The information managementsystem 100 may create secondary disk copies and store the copies atdisaster recovery locations using auxiliary copy or replicationoperations, such as continuous data replication technologies. Dependingon the particular data protection goals, disaster recovery locations canbe remote from the client computing devices 102 and primary storagedevices 104, remote from some or all of the secondary storage devices108, or both.

Data Processing and Manipulation Operations

As indicated, the information management system 100 can also beconfigured to implement certain data manipulation operations, whichaccording to certain embodiments are generally operations involving theprocessing or modification of stored data. Some data manipulationoperations include content indexing operations and classificationoperations can be useful in leveraging the data under management toprovide enhanced search and other features. Other data manipulationoperations such as compression and encryption can provide data reductionand security benefits, respectively.

Data manipulation operations can be different than data movementoperations in that they do not necessarily involve the copying,migration or other transfer of data (e.g., primary data 112 or secondarycopies 116) between different locations in the system. For instance,data manipulation operations may involve processing (e.g., offlineprocessing) or modification of already stored primary data 112 and/orsecondary copies 116. However, in some embodiments data manipulationoperations are performed in conjunction with data movement operations.As one example, the information management system 100 may encrypt datawhile performing an archive operation.

Content Indexing

In some embodiments, the information management system 100 “contentindexes” data stored within the primary data 112 and/or secondary copies116, providing enhanced search capabilities for data discovery and otherpurposes. The content indexing can be used to identify files or otherdata objects having pre-defined content (e.g., user-defined keywords orphrases), metadata (e.g., email metadata such as “to”, “from”, “cc”,“bcc”, attachment name, received time, etc.).

The information management system 100 generally organizes and cataloguesthe results in a content index, which may be stored within the mediaagent database 152, for example. The content index can also include thestorage locations of (or pointer references to) the indexed data in theprimary data 112 or secondary copies 116, as appropriate. The resultsmay also be stored, in the form of a content index database orotherwise, elsewhere in the information management system 100 (e.g., inthe primary storage devices 104, or in the secondary storage device108). Such index data provides the storage manager 140 or anothercomponent with an efficient mechanism for locating primary data 112and/or secondary copies 116 of data objects that match particularcriteria.

For instance, search criteria can be specified by a user through userinterface 158 of the storage manager 140. In some cases, the informationmanagement system 100 analyzes data and/or metadata in secondary copies116 to create an “off-line” content index, without significantlyimpacting the performance of the client computing devices 102. Dependingon the embodiment, the system can also implement “on-line” contentindexing, e.g., of primary data 112. Examples of compatible contentindexing techniques are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 8,170,995, which isincorporated by reference herein.

Classification Operations—Metabase

In order to help leverage the data stored in the information managementsystem 100, one or more components can be configured to scan data and/orassociated metadata for classification purposes to populate a metabaseof information. Such scanned, classified data and/or metadata may beincluded in a separate database and/or on a separate storage device fromprimary data 112 (and/or secondary copies 116), such that metabaserelated operations do not significantly impact performance on othercomponents in the information management system 100.

In other cases, the metabase(s) may be stored along with primary data112 and/or secondary copies 116. Files or other data objects can beassociated with user-specified identifiers (e.g., tag entries) in themedia agent 144 (or other indices) to facilitate searches of stored dataobjects. Among a number of other benefits, the metabase can also allowefficient, automatic identification of files or other data objects toassociate with secondary copy or other information management operations(e.g., in lieu of scanning an entire file system). Examples ofcompatible metabases and data classification operations are provided inU.S. Pat. Nos. 8,229,954 and 7,747,579, which are incorporated byreference herein.

Encryption Operations

The information management system 100 in some cases is configured toprocess data (e.g., files or other data objects, secondary copies 116,etc.), according to an appropriate encryption algorithm (e.g., Blowfish,Advanced Encryption Standard [AES], Triple Data Encryption Standard[3-DES], etc.) to limit access and provide data security in theinformation management system 100.

The information management system 100 in some cases encrypts the data atthe client level, such that the client computing devices 102 (e.g., thedata agents 142) encrypt the data prior to forwarding the data to othercomponents, e.g., before sending the data media agents 144 during asecondary copy operation. In such cases, the client computing device 102may maintain or have access to an encryption key or passphrase fordecrypting the data upon restore. Encryption can also occur whencreating copies of secondary copies, e.g., when creating auxiliarycopies. In yet further embodiments, the secondary storage devices 108can implement built-in, high performance hardware encryption.

Management Operations

Certain embodiments leverage the integrated, ubiquitous nature of theinformation management system 100 to provide useful system-widemanagement functions. As two non-limiting examples, the informationmanagement system 100 can be configured to implement operationsmanagement and e-discovery functions.

Operations management can generally include monitoring and managing thehealth and performance of information management system 100 by, withoutlimitation, performing error tracking, generating granularstorage/performance metrics (e.g., job success/failure information,deduplication efficiency, etc.), generating storage modeling and costinginformation, and the like.

Such information can be provided to users via the user interface 158 ina single, integrated view. For instance, the integrated user interface158 can include an option to show a “virtual view” of the system thatgraphically depicts the various components in the system usingappropriate icons. The operations management functionality canfacilitate planning and decision-making. For example, in someembodiments, a user may view the status of some or all jobs as well asthe status of each component of the information management system 100.Users may then plan and make decisions based on this data. For instance,a user may view high-level information regarding storage operations forthe information management system 100, such as job status, componentstatus, resource status (e.g., network pathways, etc.), and otherinformation. The user may also drill down or use other means to obtainmore detailed information regarding a particular component, job, or thelike.

In some cases the information management system 100 alerts a user suchas a system administrator when a particular resource is unavailable orcongested. For example, a particular primary storage device 104 orsecondary storage device 108 might be full or require additionalcapacity. Or a component may be unavailable due to hardware failure,software problems, or other reasons. In response, the informationmanagement system 100 may suggest solutions to such problems when theyoccur (or provide a warning prior to occurrence). For example, thestorage manager 140 may alert the user that a secondary storage device108 is full or otherwise congested. The storage manager 140 may thensuggest, based on job and data storage information contained in itsdatabase 146, an alternate secondary storage device 108.

Other types of corrective actions may include suggesting an alternatedata path to a particular primary or secondary storage device 104, 108,or dividing data to be stored among various available primary orsecondary storage devices 104, 108 as a load balancing measure or tootherwise optimize storage or retrieval time. Such suggestions orcorrective actions may be performed automatically, if desired. Furtherexamples of some compatible operations management techniques and ofinterfaces providing an integrated view of an information managementsystem are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 7,343,453, which is incorporated byreference herein. In some embodiments, the storage manager 140implements the operations management functions described herein.

The information management system 100 can also be configured to performsystem-wide e-discovery operations in some embodiments. In general,e-discovery operations provide a unified collection and searchcapability for data in the system, such as data stored in the secondarystorage devices 108 (e.g., backups, archives, or other secondary copies116). For example, the information management system 100 may constructand maintain a virtual repository for data stored in the informationmanagement system 100 that is integrated across source applications 110,different storage device types, etc. According to some embodiments,e-discovery utilizes other techniques described herein, such as dataclassification and/or content indexing.

Information Management Policies

As indicated previously, an information management policy 148 caninclude a data structure or other information source that specifies aset of parameters (e.g., criteria and rules) associated with secondarycopy or other information management operations.

One type of information management policy 148 is a storage policy.According to certain embodiments, a storage policy generally comprises alogical container that defines (or includes information sufficient todetermine) one or more of the following items: (1) what data will beassociated with the storage policy; (2) a destination to which the datawill be stored; (3) datapath information specifying how the data will becommunicated to the destination; (4) the type of storage operation to beperformed; and (5) retention information specifying how long the datawill be retained at the destination.

Data associated with a storage policy can be logically organized intogroups, which can be referred to as “sub-clients”. A sub-client mayrepresent static or dynamic associations of portions of a data volume.Sub-clients may represent mutually exclusive portions. Thus, in certainembodiments, a portion of data may be given a label and the associationis stored as a static entity in an index, database or other storagelocation.

Sub-clients may also be used as an effective administrative scheme oforganizing data according to data type, department within theenterprise, storage preferences, or the like. Depending on theconfiguration, sub-clients can correspond to files, folders, virtualmachines, databases, etc. In one exemplary scenario, an administratormay find it preferable to separate e-mail data from financial data usingtwo different sub-clients.

A storage policy can define where data is stored by specifying a targetor destination storage device (or group of storage devices). Forinstance, where the secondary storage device 108 includes a group ofdisk libraries, the storage policy may specify a particular disk libraryfor storing the sub-clients associated with the policy. As anotherexample, where the secondary storage devices 108 include one or moretape libraries, the storage policy may specify a particular tape libraryfor storing the sub-clients associated with the storage policy, and mayalso specify a drive pool and a tape pool defining a group of tapedrives and a group of tapes, respectively, for use in storing thesub-client data.

Datapath information can also be included in the storage policy. Forinstance, the storage policy may specify network pathways and componentsto utilize when moving the data to the destination storage device(s). Insome embodiments, the storage policy specifies one or more media agents144 for conveying data (e.g., one or more sub-clients) associated withthe storage policy between the source (e.g., one or more host clientcomputing devices 102) and destination (e.g., a particular targetsecondary storage device 108).

A storage policy can also specify the type(s) of operations associatedwith the storage policy, such as a backup, archive, snapshot, auxiliarycopy, or the like. Retention information can specify how long the datawill be kept, depending on organizational needs (e.g., a number of days,months, years, etc.)

The information management policies 148 may also include one or morescheduling policies specifying when and how often to perform operations.Scheduling information may specify with what frequency (e.g., hourly,weekly, daily, event-based, etc.) or under what triggering conditionssecondary copy or other information management operations will takeplace. Scheduling policies in some cases are associated with particularcomponents, such as particular sub-clients, client computing device 102,and the like. In one configuration, a separate scheduling policy ismaintained for particular sub-clients on a client computing device 102.The scheduling policy specifies that those sub-clients are to be movedto secondary storage devices 108 every hour according to storagepolicies associated with the respective sub-clients.

When adding a new client computing device 102, administrators canmanually configure information management policies 148 and/or othersettings, e.g., via the user interface 158. However, this can be aninvolved process resulting in delays, and it may be desirable to begindata protecting operations quickly.

Thus, in some embodiments, the information management system 100automatically applies a default configuration to client computing device102. As one example, when a data agent(s) 142 is installed on a clientcomputing devices 102, the installation script may register the clientcomputing device 102 with the storage manager 140, which in turn appliesthe default configuration to the new client computing device 102. Inthis manner, data protection operations can begin substantiallyimmediately. The default configuration can include a default storagepolicy, for example, and can specify any appropriate informationsufficient to begin data protection operations. This can include a typeof data protection operation, scheduling information, a target secondarystorage device 108, data path information (e.g., a particular mediaagent 144), and the like.

Other types of information management policies 148 are possible. Forinstance, the information management policies 148 can also include oneor more audit or security policies. An audit policy is a set ofpreferences, rules and/or criteria that protect sensitive data in theinformation management system 100. For example, an audit policy maydefine “sensitive objects” as files or objects that contain particularkeywords (e.g. “confidential,” or “privileged”) and/or are associatedwith particular keywords (e.g., in metadata) or particular flags (e.g.,in metadata identifying a document or email as personal, confidential,etc.).

An audit policy may further specify rules for handling sensitiveobjects. As an example, an audit policy may require that a reviewerapprove the transfer of any sensitive objects to a cloud storage site,and that if approval is denied for a particular sensitive object, thesensitive object should be transferred to a local storage device 104instead. To facilitate this approval, the audit policy may furtherspecify how a secondary storage computing device 106 or other systemcomponent should notify a reviewer that a sensitive object is slated fortransfer.

In some implementations, the information management policies 148 mayinclude one or more provisioning policies. A provisioning policy caninclude a set of preferences, priorities, rules, and/or criteria thatspecify how clients 102 (or groups thereof) may utilize systemresources, such as available storage on cloud storage and/or networkbandwidth. A provisioning policy specifies, for example, data quotas forparticular client computing devices 102 (e.g. a number of gigabytes thatcan be stored monthly, quarterly or annually). The storage manager 140or other components may enforce the provisioning policy. For instance,the media agents 144 may enforce the policy when transferring data tosecondary storage devices 108. If a client computing device 102 exceedsa quota, a budget for the client computing device 102 (or associateddepartment) is adjusted accordingly or an alert may trigger.

While the above types of information management policies 148 have beendescribed as separate policies, one or more of these can be generallycombined into a single information management policy 148. For instance,a storage policy may also include or otherwise be associated with one ormore scheduling, audit, or provisioning policies. Moreover, whilestorage policies are typically associated with moving and storing data,other policies may be associated with other types of informationmanagement operations. The following is a non-exhaustive list of itemsthe information management policies 148 may specify:

-   -   schedules or other timing information, e.g., specifying when        and/or how often to perform information management operations;    -   the type of secondary copy 116 and/or secondary copy format        (e.g., snapshot, backup, archive, HSM, etc.);    -   a location or a class or quality of storage for storing        secondary copies 116 (e.g., one or more particular secondary        storage devices 108);    -   preferences regarding whether and how to encrypt, compress,        deduplicate, or otherwise modify or transform secondary copies        116;    -   which system components and/or network pathways (e.g., preferred        media agents 144) should be used to perform secondary storage        operations;    -   resource allocation between different computing devices or other        system components used in performing information management        operations (e.g., bandwidth allocation, available storage        capacity, etc.);    -   whether and how to synchronize or otherwise distribute files or        other data objects across multiple computing devices or hosted        services; and    -   retention information specifying the length of time primary data        112 and/or secondary copies 116 should be retained, e.g., in a        particular class or tier of storage devices, or within the        information management system 100.

Policies can additionally specify or depend on a variety of historicalor current criteria that may be used to determine which rules to applyto a particular data object, system component, or information managementoperation, such as:

-   -   frequency with which primary data 112 or a secondary copy 116 of        a data object or metadata has been or is predicted to be used,        accessed, or modified;    -   time-related factors (e.g., aging information such as time since        the creation or modification of a data object);    -   deduplication information (e.g., hashes, data blocks,        deduplication block size, deduplication efficiency or other        metrics);    -   an estimated or historic usage or cost associated with different        components (e.g., with secondary storage devices 108);    -   the identity of users, applications 110, client computing        devices 102 and/or other computing devices that created,        accessed, modified, or otherwise utilized primary data 112 or        secondary copies 116;    -   a relative sensitivity (e.g., confidentiality) of a data object,        e.g., as determined by its content and/or metadata;    -   the current or historical storage capacity of various storage        devices;    -   the current or historical network capacity of network pathways        connecting various components within the storage operation cell;    -   access control lists or other security information; and    -   the content of a particular data object (e.g., its textual        content) or of metadata associated with the data object.        Exemplary Storage Policy and Secondary Storage Operations

FIG. 1E shows a data flow data diagram depicting performance of storageoperations by an embodiment of an information management system 100,according to an exemplary data storage policy 148A. The informationmanagement system 100 includes a storage manger 140, a client computingdevice 102 having a file system data agent 142A and an email data agent142B residing thereon, a primary storage device 104, two media agents144A, 144B, and two secondary storage devices 108A, 108B: a disk library108A and a tape library 108B. As shown, the primary storage device 104includes primary data 112A, 112B associated with a file systemsub-client and an email sub-client, respectively.

As indicated by the dashed box, the second media agent 144B and the tapelibrary 108B are “off-site”, and may therefore be remotely located fromthe other components in the information management system 100 (e.g., ina different city, office building, etc.). In this manner, informationstored on the tape library 108B may provide protection in the event of adisaster or other failure.

The file system sub-client and its associated primary data 112A incertain embodiments generally comprise information generated by the filesystem and/or operating system of the client computing device 102, andcan include, for example, file system data (e.g., regular files, filetables, mount points, etc.), operating system data (e.g., registries,event logs, etc.), and the like. The e-mail sub-client, on the otherhand, and its associated primary data 112B, include data generated by ane-mail client application operating on the client computing device 102,and can include mailbox information, folder information, emails,attachments, associated database information, and the like. As describedabove, the sub-clients can be logical containers, and the data includedin the corresponding primary data 112A, 112B may or may not be storedcontiguously.

The exemplary storage policy 148A includes a backup copy rule set 160, adisaster recovery copy rule set 162, and a compliance copy rule set 164.The backup copy rule set 160 specifies that it is associated with a filesystem sub-client 166 and an email sub-client 168. Each of thesesub-clients 166, 168 are associated with the particular client computingdevice 102. The backup copy rule set 160 further specifies that thebackup operation will be written to the disk library 108A, anddesignates a particular media agent 144A to convey the data to the disklibrary 108A. Finally, the backup copy rule set 160 specifies thatbackup copies created according to the rule set 160 are scheduled to begenerated on an hourly basis and to be retained for 30 days. In someother embodiments, scheduling information is not included in the storagepolicy 148A, and is instead specified by a separate scheduling policy.

The disaster recovery copy rule set 162 is associated with the same twosub-clients 166, 168. However, the disaster recovery copy rule set 162is associated with the tape library 108B, unlike the backup copy ruleset 160. Moreover, the disaster recovery copy rule set 162 specifiesthat a different media agent 144B than the media agent 144A associatedwith the backup copy rule set 160 will be used to convey the data to thetape library 108B. As indicated, disaster recovery copies createdaccording to the rule set 162 will be retained for 60 days, and will begenerated on a daily basis. Disaster recovery copies generated accordingto the disaster recovery copy rule set 162 can provide protection in theevent of a disaster or other data-loss event that would affect thebackup copy 116A maintained on the disk library 108A.

The compliance copy rule set 164 is only associated with the emailsub-client 166, and not the file system sub-client 168. Compliancecopies generated according to the compliance copy rule set 164 willtherefore not include primary data 112A from the file system sub-client166. For instance, the organization may be under an obligation to storemaintain copies of email data for a particular period of time (e.g., 10years) to comply with state or federal regulations, while similarregulations do not apply to the file system data. The compliance copyrule set 164 is associated with the same tape library 108B and mediaagent 144B as the disaster recovery copy rule set 162, although adifferent storage device or media agent could be used in otherembodiments. Finally, the compliance copy rule set 164 specifies thatcopies generated under the compliance copy rule set 164 will be retainedfor 10 years, and will be generated on a quarterly basis.

At step 1, the storage manager 140 initiates a backup operationaccording to the backup copy rule set 160. For instance, a schedulingservice running on the storage manager 140 accesses schedulinginformation from the backup copy rule set 160 or a separate schedulingpolicy associated with the client computing device 102, and initiates abackup copy operation on an hourly basis. Thus, at the scheduled timeslot the storage manager 140 sends instructions to the client computingdevice 102 to begin the backup operation.

At step 2, the file system data agent 142A and the email data agent 142Bresiding on the client computing device 102 respond to the instructionsreceived from the storage manager 140 by accessing and processing theprimary data 112A, 112B involved in the copy operation from the primarystorage device 104. Because the operation is a backup copy operation,the data agent(s) 142A, 142B may format the data into a backup format orotherwise process the data.

At step 3, the client computing device 102 communicates the retrieved,processed data to the first media agent 144A, as directed by the storagemanager 140, according to the backup copy rule set 160. In some otherembodiments, the information management system 100 may implement aload-balancing, availability-based, or other appropriate algorithm toselect from the available set of media agents 144A, 144B. Regardless ofthe manner the media agent 144A is selected, the storage manager 140 mayfurther keep a record in the storage manager database 140 of theassociation between the selected media agent 144A and the clientcomputing device 102 and/or between the selected media agent 144A andthe backup copy 116A.

The target media agent 144A receives the data from the client computingdevice 102, and at step 4 conveys the data to the disk library 108A tocreate the backup copy 116A, again at the direction of the storagemanager 140 and according to the backup copy rule set 160. The secondarystorage device 108A can be selected in other ways. For instance, themedia agent 144A may have a dedicated association with a particularsecondary storage device(s), or the storage manager 140 or media agent144A may select from a plurality of secondary storage devices, e.g.,according to availability, using one of the techniques described in U.S.Pat. No. 7,246,207, which is incorporated by reference herein.

The media agent 144A can also update its index 153 to include dataand/or metadata related to the backup copy 116A, such as informationindicating where the backup copy 116A resides on the disk library 108A,data and metadata for cache retrieval, etc. After the 30 day retentionperiod expires, the storage manager 140 instructs the media agent 144Ato delete the backup copy 116A from the disk library 108A.

At step 5, the storage manager 140 initiates the creation of a disasterrecovery copy 116B according to the disaster recovery copy rule set 162.For instance, at step 6, based on instructions received from the storagemanager 140 at step 5, the specified media agent 144B retrieves the mostrecent backup copy 116A from the disk library 108A.

At step 7, again at the direction of the storage manager 140 and asspecified in the disaster recovery copy rule set 162, the media agent144B uses the retrieved data to create a disaster recovery copy 116B onthe tape library 108B. In some cases, the disaster recovery copy 116B isa direct, mirror copy of the backup copy 116A, and remains in the backupformat. In other embodiments, the disaster recovery copy 116C may begenerated in some other manner, such as by using the primary data 112A,112B from the storage device 104 as source data. The disaster recoverycopy operation is initiated once a day and the disaster recovery copies116A are deleted after 60 days.

At step 8, the storage manager 140 initiates the creation of acompliance copy 116C, according to the compliance copy rule set 164. Forinstance, the storage manager 140 instructs the media agent 144B tocreate the compliance copy 116C on the tape library 108B at step 9, asspecified in the compliance copy rule set 164. In the example, thecompliance copy 116C is generated using the disaster recovery copy 116B.In other embodiments, the compliance copy 116C is instead generatedusing either the primary data 112B corresponding to the email sub-clientor using the backup copy 116A from the disk library 108A as source data.As specified, compliance copies 116C are created quarterly, and aredeleted after ten years.

While not shown in FIG. 1E, at some later point in time, a restoreoperation can be initiated involving one or more of the secondary copies116A, 116B, 116C. As one example, a user may manually initiate a restoreof the backup copy 116A by interacting with the user interface 158 ofthe storage manager 140. The storage manager 140 then accesses data inits index 150 (and/or the respective storage policy 148A) associatedwith the selected backup copy 116A to identify the appropriate mediaagent 144A and/or secondary storage device 116A.

In other cases, a media agent may be selected for use in the restoreoperation based on a load balancing algorithm, an availability basedalgorithm, or other criteria. The selected media agent 144A retrievesthe data from the disk library 108A. For instance, the media agent 144Amay access its index 153 to identify a location of the backup copy 116Aon the disk library 108A, or may access location information residing onthe disk 108A itself.

When the backup copy 116A was recently created or accessed, the mediaagent 144A accesses a cached version of the backup copy 116A residing inthe media agent index 153, without having to access the disk library108A for some or all of the data. Once it has retrieved the backup copy116A, the media agent 144A communicates the data to the source clientcomputing device 102. Upon receipt, the file system data agent 142A andthe email data agent 142B may unpackage (e.g., restore from a backupformat to the native application format) the data in the backup copy116A and restore the unpackaged data to the primary storage device 104.

Exemplary Secondary Copy Formatting

The formatting and structure of secondary copies 116 can vary, dependingon the embodiment. In some cases, secondary copies 116 are formatted asa series of logical data units or “chunks” (e.g., 512 MB, 1 GB, 2 GB, 4GB, or 8 GB chunks). This can facilitate efficient communication andwriting to secondary storage devices 108, e.g., according to resourceavailability. For example, a single secondary copy 116 may be written ona chunk-by-chunk basis to a single secondary storage device 108 oracross multiple secondary storage devices 108. In some cases, users canselect different chunk sizes, e.g., to improve throughput to tapestorage devices.

Generally, each chunk can include a header and a payload. The payloadcan include files (or other data units) or subsets thereof included inthe chunk, whereas the chunk header generally includes metadata relatingto the chunk, some or all of which may be derived from the payload. Forexample, during a secondary copy operation, the media agent 144, storagemanager 140, or other component may divide the associated files intochunks and generate headers for each chunk by processing the constituentfiles.

The headers can include a variety of information such as fileidentifier(s), volume(s), offset(s), or other information associatedwith the payload data items, a chunk sequence number, etc. Importantly,in addition to being stored with the secondary copy 116 on the secondarystorage device 108, the chunk headers 300 can also be stored to theindex 153 of the associated media agent(s) 144 and/or the storagemanager index 150. This is useful in some cases for providing fasterprocessing of secondary copies 116 during restores or other operations.In some cases, once a chunk is successfully transferred to a secondarystorage device 108, the secondary storage device 108 returns anindication of receipt, e.g., to the media agent 144 and/or storagemanager 140, which may update their respective indexes 150, 153accordingly.

During restore, chunks may be processed (e.g., by the media agent 144)according to the information in the chunk header to reassemble thefiles. Additional information relating to chunks can be found in U.S.Pat. No. 8,156,086, which is incorporated by reference herein.

Data Synchronization Management System

FIG. 2 illustrates a data synchronization management system 200according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The datasynchronization management system 200 can incorporate a variety ofdifferent hardware and software components, which can in turn beorganized with respect to one another in many different configurations,depending on the embodiment.

The data synchronization management system 200 of FIG. 2 includes thestorage manager 140, the secondary storage computing device(s) 106, thesecondary storage device(s) 108, client computing devices 202A-C, andprimary storage devices 204A-C. As described above, the storage manager140 includes the management database 146 and the management agent 154.Additionally, the storage manager 140 includes a cloud interface 208 anda synchronization agent 210. The management database 146 includesinformation management policies 148, synchronization policies 151, andthe management index 150, as described above. The secondary storagecomputing device(s) 106 include media agent(s) 144 and the media agentdatabase 152, the media agent database 152 also including the index 153.

The client computing devices 202A-C each may communicate with therespective primary storage devices 204A-C. While three client computingdevices 202A-C and three primary storage devices 204A-C are shown forillustrative purposes in FIG. 2, additional (or fewer) client computingdevices and primary storage devices may be present in the datasynchronization management system 200. Certain components in the systemmay communicate with one another via a network 206. For instance, eachof the client computing devices 202A-C may communicate with the network206. Similarly, the storage manager 140 and the secondary storagecomputing device(s) 106 may communicate with the network 206. Thus,through the network 206 each of the client computing devices 202A-C, thestorage manager 140, and the secondary storage computing device(s) 106may communicate with one-another. The network 206 may comprise any wiredand/or wireless communications network suitable for data communications,and may include any of the networks, communications link, orcommunications pathways described herein. For example, the network 206may comprise one or more of a LAN, WAN, cellular data network and/or theInternet, among others. Additionally, communication over the network 206may be accomplished through any suitable communications protocol. Forexample, communication may be serial or parallel, through UniversalSerial Bus (USB) (wired or wireless), Ethernet, Bluetooth, Near FieldCommunications (NFC), radio frequency (RF), infrared, and/or WiFi (suchas any 802.1x interface), or combinations thereof, among others. Asshown by the dotted line in FIG. 2, the storage manager 140 and thesecondary storage computing device(s) 106 may also optionallycommunicate with one another directly, instead of or in addition tocommunicating with one another via the network 206, also through anysuitable communications network or protocol.

Storage Manager in the Data Synchronization Management System

In general, in the data synchronization management system 200 thestorage manager 140 may include all of the functionality and componentsdescribed above in reference to FIGS. 1A-E. In addition, according tocertain embodiments of the data synchronization management system 200,the storage manager 140 provides (among others) one or more of thefollowing functions:

-   -   tracking synchronization information related to primary copies        of data on the primary storage devices 204A-C, and secondary        copies of data on the secondary storage device(s) 108;    -   tracking and resolving conflicts between similar pieces of data        located in the various storage devices;    -   managing user created data synchronization policies; and    -   providing direct access to data stored in secondary storage        device(s) 108 through a cloud interface.

As described above, the storage manager 140 may maintain a database 146of management-related data, such as information management andsynchronization policies. The database 146 may include the managementindex 150 or other data structure that stores logical associationsbetween components of the system, user preferences, synchronizationpolices and/or synchronization (and/or user) profiles (e.g., preferencesregarding what data is synchronized to which devices, preferencesregarding the scheduling, type, or other aspects of data synchronizationoperations, etc.), management tasks, synchronization tasks, or otheruseful data. For example, the storage manager 140 may use the index 150to track logical associations between media agents 144 and secondarystorage devices 108, movement of data from primary storage devices204A-C to secondary storage device(s) 108, and/or synchronization statesof data among the primary storage devices 204A-C.

Thus, the data synchronization management system 200 may utilizeinformation management policies 148 for specifying and executinginformation management operations, and synchronization policies 151 forspecifying and executing synchronization operations (e.g., on anautomated basis). Generally, an information management policy 148 caninclude a data structure or other information source that specifies aset of parameters (e.g., criteria and rules) associated with storageand/or other information management operations. Similarly, asynchronization policy 151 can include a data structure or otherinformation source that specifies a set of parameters (e.g., criteriaand rules) associated with synchronization operations.

According to certain embodiments, a synchronization policy 151 generallycomprises a logical container that defines (or includes informationsufficient to determine) one or more of the following items: (1) whatdata will be associated with the synchronization policy; (2) sourceinformation associated with the data to be synchronized, such as such asthe identity of primary storage device(s) 204 and/or client computingdevice(s) 202 storing or otherwise associated with the data, informationindicating where the data is stored (e.g., primary storage addressinformation), and the like; (4) destination information associated withthe data, such as the identify of secondary storage device(s), secondarystorage devices 106, and/or media agents to which the data will besynchronized; (5) datapath information specifying how the data will becommunicated from sources to destinations; (6) the type ofsynchronization operation to be performed; and (7) the synchronizationschedule. For example, a synchronization policy may be created by a userof the data synchronization management system 200, in which the userspecifies that files and/or data to be synchronized (by specifying forinclusion, for example, files belonging to a particular directory, fileshaving particular content, and/or files having particular associatedfile metadata) and the devices to which the data will be synchronized(for example, a user may specify that data and/or files associated withclient computing device 202A are to be synchronized to the primarystorage device 204B associated with the client computing device 202B).

In general, in the data synchronization management system 200, a usermay be identified by a user profile. The user profile associated with auser may include, for example, information management policies 148and/or synchronization policies 151 of the user, an identification ofthe user (for example, a username), and/or a means of authenticating theidentity of the user (for example, a password), among other things.Information management policies 148 and/or synchronization policies 151may be associated with particular users of the data synchronizationmanagement system 200, and more than one information management policy148 and/or synchronization policy 151 may be associated with aparticular user. In general, synchronization polices 151 in the datasynchronization management system 200 are associated with a userprofile. The user profile may also include other information relevant tothe data synchronization management system 200, including for example,backup policies, among other things.

In the storage manager 140, the management agent 154, synchronizationagent 210, and cloud interface 208, may be implemented as interconnectedsoftware modules or application programs.

The synchronization agent 210 in some embodiments initiates, controls,and/or monitors the status of some or all synchronization or otherinformation management operations previously performed, currently beingperformed, or scheduled to be performed by the data synchronizationmanagement system 200. For instance, the synchronization agent 210 mayaccess information management policies 148 to determine when and how toinitiate and control synchronization and other information managementoperations, as will be described further below. Although not depicted inFIG. 2, embodiments of the data synchronization management system 200generally also include the jobs agent 156 in the storage manager 140, asdescribed above with respect to the information management system 100.Thus, information management operations may be initiated, controlled,and/or monitored by the jobs agent 156 and/or the synchronization agent210. In an embodiment, the jobs agent 156 and the synchronization agent210 may be a single unit.

The cloud interface 208 may include information processing and displaysoftware, such as a graphical user interface (“GUI”), an applicationprogram interface (“API”), or other interactive interface or portalthrough which users and system processes may retrieve information aboutthe status of synchronization and/or other information managementoperations and data (e.g., storage operations and storage locations),retrieve data and/or files directly, view file lists, and/or issueinstructions to the data synchronization management system 200 and itsconstituent components. For instance, a user may access the cloudinterface 208 via a browser or other application executing on one of theclient computing devices 202 or another computing device.

Via the cloud interface 208, users may optionally issue instructions tothe components in the data synchronization management system 200regarding performance of storage and recovery operations, performance ofsynchronization operations, and/or accessing of stored data. Forexample, a user may modify a synchronization schedule or may employ theGUI to view the status of pending storage and/or synchronizationoperations, or to monitor the status of certain components in the datasynchronization management system 200. As another example, a user mayidentify and authenticate themselves (with, for example, a username andpassword), and view and access files and data (stored in, for example,the secondary storage device(s) 108) associated with the user. Data fromthe cloud interface 208 may be transferred over the network 206. Forexample, the cloud interface 208 may be accessed by a user over theInternet. As with the other components of the data synchronizationmanagement system 200, in other embodiments the cloud interface 208 maybe located in a different part of the system (for example, in thesecondary storage computing device(s) 106).

Data and/or files may be transferred from the client computing devices202A-C to the secondary storage device(s) via the media agent(s) 144(and associated secondary storage computing device(s) 106). Thus, forexample, during a secondary copy operation, files may be backed up orotherwise transferred from the primary storage device 204A to thesecondary storage device(s) 108. During synchronization, the mediaagent(s) 144, at the direction of the storage manager 140, maycommunicate the files to be synchronized (e.g., through a restoreoperation) from the secondary storage device(s) 108 to the destinationclient computing device(s) 202 for storage in the associated primarystorage devices 204.

In another embodiment, data and/or files transferred in the datasynchronization management system 200 may be transferred directly fromone client computing device to another. Such a transfer may be under thedirection of the storage manager 140. For example, storage manager 140may direct client computing device 202A to transfer files to besynchronized directly to computing device 202B, e.g., without the use ofthe media agent(s) 144. Alternatively, the client computing devices 202may include the components necessary to identify files to besynchronized, and to transfer those files to associated client computingdevices directly. In this alternative, the storage manager 140 may snoopon the files transferred from one client computing device to another soas to identify files to be copied to secondary storage.

Other Components in the Data Synchronization Management System

As described above with respect to the information management system100, the client computing devices 202A-C include application(s) 110 anddata agent(s) 142 (although they are not depicted in FIG. 2). Theseapplication(s) 110 and data agent(s) 142 generally function as describedabove. Additionally, it is to be understood that primary storage devices204A-C store primary data, as described above. Similarly, the secondarystorage computing device(s) 106 (including the media agent 144, mediaagent database 152, and index 153) and the secondary storage device(s)108 also generally function as described above in the informationmanagement system 100.

In particular, in the data synchronization management system 200,information management, information processing, information transfer,data movement, secondary copy, and data backup, archive, and otheroperations in general are carried out in a manner similar to thatdescribed above. Thus, it is to be understood that the description ofthe data synchronization management system 200 includes all of thefunctionality described above with respect to those and otheroperations, components, and characteristics (such as scalability).

Exemplary Data Synchronization Management Operations and Processes

FIG. 3 illustrates an example data synchronization management process,according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In general,according to certain embodiments, a data synchronization operationoccurs as a result of or in response to a secondary copy operation(e.g., a data backup operation). The data synchronization may occursubsequent to, simultaneously with, or may at least partially overlapwith the secondary copy operation, depending on the embodiment. Whiledata synchronization operations may be described herein as occurring inconjunction with backup operations for the purposes of illustration,data synchronization operations may be compatible with other types ofsecondary copy operations in addition to backup operations, e.g.,archive operations, snapshot operations, replication operations, etc.

In an embodiment, a secondary copy operation occurs in which a copy ofprimary data stored in one of the primary storage devices 204A-C iscreated in the secondary storage device(s) 108. Then, particularidentified files are synchronized (e.g., through a restore operation) tothe other primary storage devices 204A-C from the secondary storagedevice(s) 108. This process is described in detail in reference toblocks 302, 304, and 306 below.

At block 302, a backup operation is initiated for a first clientcomputing device. For example, an information management policy 148 mayspecify that a backup of certain data associated with client computingdevice 202A is to occur. and the storage manager 140 may thereforeinitiate the backup. Alternatively, a user of the client computingdevice 202A may arbitrarily choose to manually initiate a backup, e.g.,using the GUI of the storage manager 140. The data and/or file backupoperation generally proceeds as detailed above (for example, asdescribed in reference to FIG. 1E). For example, the files selected forbackup by the information management policy 148 may be copied fromprimary storage device 204A to secondary storage device(s) 108, asdirected by the storage manager 140.

At block 304, files in the secondary copy (for example, files backed upin the secondary storage device(s) 108) are identified forsynchronization. Files and/or data to be synchronized are specified bythe synchronization policy 151, which can be any of those describedabove. Additionally, the storage manager 140 and/or the media agent(s)144 compare the files backed up as part of the current backup operationto the previous versions of the files located in the secondary storagedevice(s) 108.

Files that have not changed (e.g., no changes in file contents and/ormetadata) are determined to not require synchronization. Files that havechanged in some way, however, are determined to require synchronization.For example, the user of the data synchronization management system 200may specify that files contained within a particular directory are to besynchronized. Those files specified in the synchronization policy by theuser will then be compared to previous versions of those files stored inthe secondary storage device(s) 108, and files requiring synchronizationwill be identified by, for example, the storage manager 140 and/or mediaagent(s) 144. In various embodiments, the files to be synchronized maybe identified before the backup is initiated, as the backup isinitiated, as the backup is in progress, and/or after the backup iscompleted. Further details regarding the designation and identificationof the files to be synchronized are described in reference to FIG. 4below.

At block 306, those files that are identified to be synchronized arerestored to specific client computing devices. In general, the dataand/or file restore operation proceeds as detailed above (for example,as described in reference to FIG. 1E). For example, files may betransferred from the secondary storage device(s) 108 to one or more ofthe primary storage devices 204A-C. User created synchronizationpolicies may specify the specific files to be synchronized, and/or thespecific devices to which those files are to be synchronized. Forexample, the user may specify that files in a particular directory onthe client computing device 202A are to be synchronized with aparticular directory on the client computing device 202B. Thus, in anembodiment, the file synchronization among client computing devices(such as client computing devices 202A-C) may be accomplished through acombination of operations similar to the backup and restore operationsdescribed above.

In an embodiment, identified files may not be restored/synchronized fromthe secondary storage device(s) 108, but rather may be transferred fromone client computing device to another directly. Thus, although thefiles to be synchronized may be backed up to the secondary storagedevice(s) 108, and the backup operation may trigger the synchronizationprocess, the synchronization is performed by transferring the files fromthe source client computing device to the target client computingdevice. Thus, the bandwidth of the secondary storage computing device(s)106's connection to the network 206 may advantageously be preserved.

In certain embodiments, the user may specify multiple synchronizationpolicies. For example, the user may specify that files located indirectory “alpha” associated with client computing device 202A are to besynchronized with a version of directory “alpha” associated with clientcomputing device 202B, while the files in directory “beta” associatedwith client computing device 202B are to be synchronized with a versionof directory “beta” associated with client computing device 202C.Further, in certain embodiments, the user may specify differentdirectories on the client computing devices to be synchronized. Forexample, the user may specify that files located in directory “alpha”associated with client computing device 202A are to be synchronized withdirectory “gamma” associated with client computing device 202B.Additionally, in certain embodiments, the user may synchronize filesand/or data among more than two client computing devices. For example,the user may specify the particular client computing devices to whichfiles are to be synchronized. Alternatively, files may be synchronizedto all client computing devices associated with the user of the datasynchronization management system 200. Client computing devicesassociated with the user may be identified, in some embodiments, throughthe user profile. For example, a user may associate themselves with allthe client computing devices they own and/or manage by including theidentities of those client computing devices in the user's user profile.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example data synchronization management processincluding designation of particular files, according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure. At block 402, the data synchronizationmanagement system 200 receives parameters indicating which files and/ordata to synchronize. In some embodiments, the user indicates and/oridentifies the files, and/or criteria for identifying the files, to besynchronized. In some embodiments, the files and/or data to besynchronized may be identified according to some policy, and/or a policymay be automatically created when a new user profile is created and/or auser profile is associated with a particular client computing device(for example, certain types of files, such as photos, may beautomatically selected for synchronization when a user profile iscreated).

A user may specify the files to be synchronized. Files to besynchronized may be directly selected or otherwise identified, oruser-defined criteria may be specified to indirectly identify the filesto be synchronized. For instance, without limitation, files may beidentified by detecting the existence of specified content within thefile (such as the existence of one or more specified terms within adocument), and/or by matching metadata associated with the file with oneor more specified metadata parameters (such as filename, file owner,directory, creation date, modification date, size, type, location,Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates, among others). The criteriaused to identify files to be synchronized may vary. In addition, morethan one criteria may be specified to identify files to be synchronized.For example, files to be synchronized may be identified as the files ina certain directory that were created after a certain date.

At block 404, a backup operation is initiated for a first clientcomputing device, similar to the operation of block 302 of FIG. 3. Thefiles to be backed up may be specified by a backup policy, and mayinclude files other than and/or in addition to those files selected forsynchronization. In an embodiment, the files designated to besynchronized are automatically included in a backup policy. In anotherembodiment, the backup policy and the synchronization policy areseparate, but may be related in some way. The backup schedule set by thebackup policy may or may not be linked to or associated with thesynchronization schedule. In an embodiment, the synchronization policyis a subset of the backup policy. In an embodiment, multiplesynchronization policies and backup policies may exist and/or beassociated with a user profile. In an embodiment, files to besynchronized according to a synchronization policy are synchronizedanytime any scheduled backup occurs (and/or is manually initiated).

At block 406, the recently created backup copy is processed to identifyfiles to be synchronized based on the received parameters discussedabove in relation to block 402. For instance, the media agent 144accesses the secondary copy from the secondary storage device(s) 108 andprocess the secondary copy to identify the files for synchronization.Similar to block 304 of FIG. 3, in block 406 the files to besynchronized are thus identified. Thus, for example, when thesynchronization policy specifies files in directory “delta” are to besynchronized, at block 406 the files in the secondary storage device(s)108 that are in the designated directory “delta” (i.e., that satisfy thesynchronization criteria specified by the policy) and are identified ashaving changed will be identified for synchronization.

At block 408, those files that are identified to be synchronized arerestored or otherwise transmitted to the target client computingdevices, as described above in relation to the operation of block 306 ofFIG. 3.

As described above, in an embodiment, identified files may not berestored/synchronized from the secondary storage device(s) 108, butrather may be transferred from one client computing device to anotherdirectly. In this embodiment the source client computing device mayidentify the files to be synchronized and communicate the files to thetarget client computing device(s).

FIG. 5 illustrates an example data synchronization management processincluding location metadata, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. At block 502, the data synchronization management system 200receives location information indicating which files and/or data tosynchronize. In some embodiments, the user indicates and/or identifiesthe files to be synchronized based on the location information. In someembodiments, the files and/or data to be synchronized based on locationinformation may be identified according to some policy, and/or may beautomatically created when a new user profile is created and/or a userprofile is associated with a particular client computing device (forexample, certain files created in a particular location, such asdocuments created at home, may be automatically selected forsynchronization when a user profile is created).

Location information may include, for example, geographical location,personal location (such as, for example, home or work), GPS location,city, and/or state, just to name a few. A user may provide the locationinformation in addition to other parameters as described above inreference to block 402 of FIG. 4.

At block 504, a backup operation is initiated for a first clientcomputing device, similar to the operation of block 302 of FIGS. 3, and404 of FIG. 4.

At block 506, location metadata may be included and/or added to files inthe secondary copy. In some embodiments, a component of the datasynchronization management system 200 adds location information (suchas, GPS coordinates) to the metadata associated with files on the clientcomputing devices 202A-C, in the primary copy. For example, in anembodiment, data agents on the client computing devices 202A-C may addlocation metadata to files at the point the files are created, accessed,modified, and/or designated in some other way (such as, for example,designated through a backup and/or synchronization policy). In otherembodiments, the storage manager 140 or other appropriate component maystore location information related to client computing devices 202A-C,and add location metadata to files backed up (or otherwise transferredto secondary storage). For example, the storage manager 140 may directdata agents on the client computing devices 202A-C to add locationmetadata to files when a scheduled backup operation occurs.

Location information may include, for example, GPS coordinates, anInternet Protocol (IP) address, a street address, a geographic location(such as a city, state, etc.), a triangulated location based on mobiletracking with respect to telecommunications base stations, and/orcomputer-enabled location-based services, among others. Locationinformation may be provided by the client computing device. Locationinformation may also be provided by a device attached to, embedded in,or otherwise in communication with the client computing device. Forexample, location information may be provided by a GPS receiver, anetwork adapter, or a cellular network radio, among others.Alternatively, location information may be provided manually by a user.For example, a user may specify location information for one or morefiles, and/or may designate location information associated with aparticular client computing device. In an embodiment, any combination ofthe above described ways of providing location information may be used.

At block 508, file location metadata is accessed in the secondary copy(in, for example, the secondary storage device(s) 108). The accessedlocation metadata can then be used to identify files to be synchronized,according to the synchronization policy. For example, the user profilemay include a synchronization policy that includes synchronization ofall files that are created at the user's home GPS coordinates. Thus,identified files in the secondary copy may include those with GPSmetadata indicating a location associated with, at, or near the user'shome.

At block 510, those files that are identified to be synchronized arerestored to the appropriate computing devices, as described above inrelation to the operation of block 306 of FIG. 3.

As described above, in an embodiment, identified files may not berestored/synchronized from the secondary storage device(s) 108, butrather may be transferred from one client computing device to anotherdirectly. In this embodiment, location metadata may be accessed on theclient computing device to identify the files to be synchronizeddirectly to other client computing devices.

Remote File Access Operations and Processes

FIG. 6 illustrates an example remote file access process, according toan embodiment of the present disclosure. In some instances, a user ofthe data synchronization management system 200, through one of theclient computing devices 202A-C, may request access to a file that mayor may not presently be stored on the one of the client computingdevices 202A-C. A file may not be present on one of the client computingdevices 202A-C in certain circumstances including circumstances inwhich, for example, the user is attempting to access the file throughthe cloud interface 208 and/or the file data has not yet beensynchronized to the particular client computing device. For example, incertain embodiments a user may utilize a client computing device toview, through the cloud interface 208, a list of files designated forsynchronization. The list of files designated for synchronization mayinclude files not presently synchronized to the client computing device.For example, a file that was recently created on another clientcomputing device may not yet be synchronized to the user's clientcomputing device. A user attempting to access files through the cloudinterface 208 may thus attempt to access files that are not yetsynchronized to the user's client computing device. Alternatively, anearlier version of the file desired by the user may be present on theuser's client computing device, whereas an updated version has not yetsynchronized from another client computing device where it was recentlyupdated.

In an embodiment, the data synchronization management system 200 may notsynchronize all designated files to all client computing devices, butrather may synchronize a file list including, for example, file namesand locations, but not the actual file data. In this embodiment, filedata associated with a particular file may be synchronized to a clientcomputing device at the time of a user's request for that file on thatclient computing device. In another embodiment, the data synchronizationmanagement system 200 may initially synchronize a file list, andsubsequently synchronize the file data in the background. In anembodiment, the user may access a file list from any network 206connected device, such as laptop computer with a web browser or thelike. Thus, the user may be able to view a list of files, even thoughthe actual file data may not be present on the network 206 connecteddevice.

The example remote file access process begins at block 602, at whichpoint a file list is provided to, for example, a user. The file list maybe provided to the user in any of the examples and embodiments describedabove. The file list may include limited file information, for example,file names, file locations, file modification dates, and/or file sizes,among other things.

At block 604, a file access request is received from the user. Forexample, a user of the primary storage device 204B or a web browser mayview the file list, and see a file that they would like to access. Theuser may then request access to that file by, for example, clicking onor otherwise selecting the file.

Once the file access request is received, at block 606 the datasynchronization management system 200 determines whether the file islocally synchronized. This may be accomplished, for example, by a localdata agent and/or the storage manager 140. In an embodiment in which theuser is attempting to access the file through a web browser and thecloud interface 208, it may be determined whether the requested file isstored in a local cache. In some embodiments, the file may besynchronizing in the background, and/or the locally synchronized filemay be a version older than the most recent on all synchronized devices.

In the event the current version of the requested file is locallysynchronized, at block 608 the user is provided access to that localfile. In the event the current version of the requested file is notlocally synced, at block 610 the current version of the file isretrieved/synchronized from secondary storage. In another embodiment,the file may be retrieved directly from another client computing device,also as described above with respect to synchronization operations.

Once the requested file is transferred to the user's device, at block612, the user is provided access to that local copy of the file.

In an embodiment, the user may optionally manually initiatesynchronization of an accessed file. For example, when the user hasedited the accessed file, the user may optionally manually initiate thetransfer of the edited file back to the secondary storage device(s) 108.The edited file may then be synchronized to all related devicesaccording to the synchronization policy.

The user profile may include synchronization policies specifying thosefiles that are accessible through the remote file access process, aswell as those that are not. For example, the user may specify that onlyparticular files and/or data are to be available through the cloudinterface 208. The user may likely specify that all synchronized files,or no synchronized files are to be available through the cloud interface208.

File Conflicts

It may occur during the operation of the data synchronization managementsystem 200 that file conflicts and/or inconsistencies arise. Forexample, the same file may be edited simultaneously in two of the clientcomputing devices 202A-C. In this event, each file may be synchronizedto the other client computing device, creating a conflict. In anembodiment, this conflict may be resolved in an automated fashion. Forcertain file types, the differences may be merged according to anyappropriate method. In some instances, one or more of the conflictingfiles may be renamed, and the user notified of the conflict for manualresolution. In general, even conflicted files will continue to besynchronized and backed up according to applicable policies.

Other Embodiments

In an embodiment, one or more media agent(s) 144 may manage thesynchronization of data and/or files among the client computing devices202A-C. The media agent(s) 144 may determine whether changes have beenmade to backed up files that are designated for synchronization, andthus may determine whether or not a synchronization/restore operationoccurs with respect to the other client computing device.

In various embodiments, a synchronization policy may include the optionsfor two-way synchronization and/or one-way synchronization. In two-waysynchronization, files and/or data may be synchronized both to and froma destination. For example, a synchronization policy may indicate thatfiles should be two-way synchronized between client computing device202A and client computing device 202B. Thus, any changes on either ofthe devices would be synchronized to the other device. Alternatively, asynchronization policy may indicate that files should be one-waysynchronized. For example, one-way synchronization from client computingdevice 202A to client computing device 202B would cause any changes tosynchronized files on client computing device 202A to be synchronized toclient computing device 202B, but not the other way around.Alternatively, a reverse one-way synchronization would cause any changeson client computing device 202B to be synchronized to client computingdevice 202A, but not the other way around.

In an embodiment, when a client computing device that is part of asynchronization policy is offline (for example, it is not connected tothe network 206, or it is powered down), the data synchronizationmanagement system 200 will wait until that client computing device comesback online to synchronize files and data to that client computingdevice. This may be accomplished, for example, through a polling processin which the storage manager 140 (or other component of the datasynchronization management system 200) periodically polls the clientcomputing devices 202A-C to determine whether they are connected to thenetwork 206. Alternatively, the client computing devices 202A-C mayperiodically send notification to the storage manager 140 (or othercomponent of the data synchronization management system 200) when theyare connected to the network 206. In an embodiment, the connectedness ofthe client computing device is not determined until a scheduled orforced backup and/or synchronization occurs. In another embodiment, theclient computing devices 202A-C send notification to the storage manager140 (or other component of the data synchronization management system200) when they are initially connected to the network 206.

In an embodiment, all data transferred within the data synchronizationmanagement system 200 is encrypted. The encrypted data may then beunencrypted when the user is identified and the identity of the user isauthenticated. Additionally, in an embodiment, the data associated withthe data synchronization management system 200 does not leave theecosystem of the data synchronization management system 200. Forexample, the data synchronization management system 200 may comprise alocal area network and/or enterprise network in which all communicationsare authenticated and encrypted. Thus, no unencrypted data istransferred out of the information management system to, for example,the open internet. Further, various data associated with various userprofiles may be kept entirely separate (for example, encryptedseparately).

In an embodiment, data and files in the data synchronization managementsystem 200 are deduplicated at the file and/or block level. Thus, a filestored in secondary storage device(s) 108 is only stored once, eventhough it may be synchronized across multiple client computing devices,and although each of those client computing devices may have a separatebackup policy involving that file.

It is to be understood that the various embodiments of the datasynchronization management system 200 described may include any or allof the various components of the information management system 100described above, including, but not limited to, data movementoperations, backup operations, archive operations, snapshot operations,replication operations, deduplication operations, data processing andmanipulations operations, content indexing, metabase classificationoperations, encryption operations, and/or management operations.

User Interface Screenshots

FIGS. 7A-G illustrate exemplary screenshots of pages of the userinterface of the data synchronization management system 200, accordingto various embodiments of the present disclosure. In FIGS. 7A-G, theterm ‘cloud folder’ may be understood to refer to, without limitation,synchronization policies as described in the present disclosure.

Screenshot 700 of FIG. 7A shows an exemplary page of a user interface ofthe data synchronization management system 200 including a listing ofbackup information 702, a current backup status display 704, a listingof backup schedules 706, a listing of content 707, synchronizationinformation 708, and a last seen location window 709. In screenshot 700,user “backup1” has implemented a backup policy on a client computingdevice. The listing of backup information 702 includes the date and timeof the last backup, the last backup size, the total backup size, and thedate and time this client computing device was last seen online. Thecurrent backup status display 704 indicates that there is a currentbackup in process, and no backups are scheduled. The backup schedules706 button allows the user may schedule backups. The listing of content707 field indicates directories that the user has specified for back up.The synchronization information 708 field allows the user to setsynchronization policies by clicking the “Sync backup1 using CloudFolders” link. The last seen location window 709 shows the clientcomputing devices last seen location. The last seen location window 709indicates that the client computing device associated with userinterface of screenshot 700 includes a means of gathering location datathat may be associated files to be backed up and/or synchronized.

The screenshot 710 of FIG. 7B shows an exemplary page of the userinterface when a user chooses to create a synchronization policy,including a select folder path radio button 711, an all backed-up dataradio button 712, a two-way sync radio button 714, and one-way sync tocloud folder radio button 716. In screenshot 710, the user has specifieda folder/synchronize policy name, “folder1.” Using the select folderpath radio button 711, the user may choose particularfolders/directories to synchronize. By selecting the all backed-up dataradio button 712, the user may choose to synchronize all data that isalready part of the backup policy. Using the two-way sync radio button714, the user may choose to synchronize file changes both ways (i.e.,file changes on this client computing device are synchronized to otherclient computing devices, and likewise changes on other client computingdevices are synchronized to this client computing device).Alternatively, the user may use the one-way sync to cloud folder radiobutton 716 to synchronize files one way (i.e., file changes on thisclient computing device are synchronized to other client computingdevices, but not the other way around).

Screenshot 720 of FIG. 7C shows another exemplary page of the userinterface when a user chooses the select folder path radio button 711 ofthe page shown in FIG. 7B. The page includes a listing 721 of backed upcontent. The listing 721 includes a deselected folder 722 and a selectedfolder 724. The listing shows directories that will be synchronizedunder the present synchronization policy. The deselected folder 722 is afolder/directory that is not selected for synchronization. The selectedfolder 724 is a folder/directory that is selected for synchronization.

Screenshot 730 of FIG. 7D shows an exemplary page of the user interfaceafter a synchronization policy/cloud folder “folde1” has been created,as indicated by field 732.

Screenshot 740 of FIG. 7E shows another exemplary page of the userinterface in which synchronization policies may be set. The pageincludes a listing of cloud folders including folde1 information tab741, a listing of synchronization clients 742, a listing of sync optionsincluding two-way sync mode 744, only upload contents to cloud foldersync mode 746, and only download contents to cloud folder sync mode 748,and a default directory field 749. Folder1 information tab 741 indicatesthe current synchronization policy that is being set, as well as thedirectory path that is being synchronized. The listing ofsynchronization clients 742 indicates the destinations to which thefiles of the current synchronization policy will be synchronized. Foreach of the four listed synchronization clients 742, the user may selecta synchronization mode from the listing of sync options. The modesinclude: two-way sync mode 744 (synchronization both to and from thedestination/client), only upload contents to cloud folder sync mode 746(only synchronize to the destination/client), and only download contentsto cloud folder sync mode 748 (only synchronize from thedestination/client). At default directory 749 the user may set the pathof the default download/upload path.

Screenshot 750 of FIG. 7F shows yet another exemplary page of userinterface in which synchronization policies may be set. The pageincludes two highlighted active cloud folders, indicated by thehighlighted folde1 information tab 751 and folder2 information tab 752.The page also includes four inactive cloud folders, indicated by thegreyed out folder information tabs 754. Active cloud folders may includethose in which files are currently synchronizing, file synchronizationis currently paused, and/or a synchronization schedule is set.Conversely, inactive cloud folders may include those in which files arenot currently synchronizing, file synchronization is not currentlypaused, and/or a synchronization schedule is not set. As shown, multiplesynchronization policies (cloud folders) may be set. In screenshot 750,folde1 information tab 751 and folder2 information tab 752 indicatefolders that are currently active, while folder information tabs 754indicate those that are currently inactive.

Screenshot 760 of FIG. 7G shows an exemplary page of the user interfacein which synchronization policies may be set. The page includes activecloud folders folder4 and folde2, indicated by information tabs 761 and762. The page also includes inactive cloud folders folder3, folder5, andfolder6 indicated by information tab 764. Further, the page includesinactive cloud folder folder1 indicated by information tab 766. Folder4(indicated by information tab 761) is active and currentlysynchronizing, while folder2 (indicated by information tab 762) iscurrently paused (not synchronizing). Formerly active (as shown in thepage of screenshot 750), folde1 is now inactive, as indicated byinformation tab 766.

Thus, the data synchronization management system 200 advantageouslyenables synchronization of files and/or data among various clientcomputing devices simultaneously with backups of files and/or data.Advantageously, various synchronization policies may be set and adjustedby a user, specifying files to be synchronized based on parameters (filedata, contents, and/or metadata) such as, for example, file location,file type, file size, file creation and/or modification, and/or locationinformation. Additionally, synchronization policies may specify thedevices to which various files should be synchronized. Further, the datasynchronization management system 200 advantageously enables a user toaccess synchronized files through a cloud interface 208 from anylocation.

Terminology

Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or“may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understoodwithin the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certainembodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certainfeatures, elements and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is notgenerally intended to imply that features, elements and/or steps are inany way required for one or more embodiments or that one or moreembodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without userinput or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or steps areincluded or are to be performed in any particular embodiment.

Depending on the embodiment, certain acts, events, or functions of anyof the algorithms described herein can be performed in a differentsequence, can be added, merged, or left out all together (e.g., not alldescribed acts or events are necessary for the practice of thealgorithms). Moreover, in certain embodiments, acts or events can beperformed concurrently, e.g., through multi-threaded processing,interrupt processing, or multiple processors or processor cores or onother parallel architectures, rather than sequentially.

Systems and modules described herein may comprise software, firmware,hardware, or any combination(s) of software, firmware, or hardwaresuitable for the purposes described herein. Software and other modulesmay reside on servers, workstations, personal computers, computerizedtablets, PDAs, and other devices suitable for the purposes describedherein. Software and other modules may be accessible via local memory,via a network, via a browser, or via other means suitable for thepurposes described herein. Data structures described herein may comprisecomputer files, variables, programming arrays, programming structures,or any electronic information storage schemes or methods, or anycombinations thereof, suitable for the purposes described herein. Userinterface elements described herein may comprise elements from graphicaluser interfaces, command line interfaces, and other suitable interfaces.

Further, the processing of the various components of the illustratedsystems can be distributed across multiple machines, networks, and othercomputing resources. In addition, two or more components of a system canbe combined into fewer components. Various components of the illustratedsystems can be implemented in one or more virtual machines, rather thanin dedicated computer hardware systems. Likewise, the data repositoriesshown can represent physical and/or logical data storage, including, forexample, storage area networks or other distributed storage systems.Moreover, in some embodiments the connections between the componentsshown represent possible paths of data flow, rather than actualconnections between hardware. While some examples of possibleconnections are shown, any of the subset of the components shown cancommunicate with any other subset of components in variousimplementations.

Embodiments are also described above with reference to flow chartillustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) andcomputer program products. Each block of the flow chart illustrationsand/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flow chartillustrations and/or block diagrams, may be implemented by computerprogram instructions. Such instructions may be provided to a processorof a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such thatthe instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer orother programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the acts specified in the flow chart and/or block diagramblock or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to operate in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instruction meanswhich implement the acts specified in the flow chart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. The computer program instructions may also beloaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatusto cause a series of operations to be performed on the computer or otherprogrammable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process suchthat the instructions which execute on the computer or otherprogrammable apparatus provide steps for implementing the acts specifiedin the flow chart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments havebeen presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit thescope of the disclosure. Indeed, the novel methods and systems describedherein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, variousomissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the describedmethods and systems may be made without departing from the spirit of thedisclosure. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intendedto cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope andspirit of the disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method of synchronizingfiles between multiple client computers using file data, thecomputer-implemented method comprising: accessing, by a synchronizationagent executing in computer hardware comprising one or more computerprocessors, user-defined synchronization criteria for identifying filesto synchronize between a first primary storage device associated with afirst client computing device and a second primary storage deviceassociated with a second client computing device; initiating, by astorage manager, a backup operation, the backup operation comprising:identifying, according to a storage policy, one or more files stored inthe first primary storage device; and copying, according to the storagepolicy, the one or more files stored in the first primary storage deviceto one or more secondary storage devices to create a backup includingthe one or more files; reviewing, by the synchronization agent, metadataassociated with each of one or more files in the backup; based at leastin part on a review of the accessed metadata, identifying, by thesynchronization agent, at least one file in the backup that meets thesynchronization criteria for synchronization between the first primarystorage device and the second primary storage device; accessing the atleast one file from the backup stored in the one or more secondarystorage devices; and communicating the accessed at least one file fromthe one or more secondary storage devices to the second client computingdevice for storage in the second primary storage device to synchronizethe at least one file between the first primary storage device and thesecond primary storage device.
 2. The computer implemented method ofclaim 1, wherein said communicating comprises communicating a copy ofthe at least one file that is accessed from the one or more secondarystorage devices.
 3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, whereinsaid identifying is in response to the backup operation.
 4. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein at least some of themetadata associated with each of the one or more files in the backup iscreated following the initiation of the backup operation.
 5. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein at least some of themetadata associated with each of the one or more files in the backup iscreated by the first client computing device prior to the initiation ofthe backup operation.
 6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,further comprising: determining characteristics associated with each ofthe one or more files stored in the first primary storage device; afterthe initiation of the backup operation, for each of the one or morefiles copied to one or more secondary storage devices: based on theuser-defined synchronization criteria and the determinedcharacteristics, generating, by the synchronization agent, an indicationof whether the file is to be synchronized between the first primarystorage device and the second primary storage device; and including theindication with the metadata associated with the file, wherein the atleast one file in the backup to synchronize is identified based on theindication.
 7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein theaccessed metadata includes at least one of a file name, a file owner, afile directory, a creation date, a modification date, a file size, afile type, or a geographical location.
 8. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, further comprising analyzing the contents of the atleast one file, wherein the metadata includes content metadata relatingto the analyzed content.
 9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8,wherein the user-defined synchronization criteria specifies files forsynchronization based at least in part on the content metadataindicating the existence of one or more terms within the file.
 10. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the at least one filecommunicated to the second client computing device replaces a previousversion of the at least one file stored in the second primary storagedevice.
 11. A system for synchronizing files between multiple clientcomputers using file data, the system comprising: a data store; and asynchronization agent executing in computer hardware comprising one ormore computer processors and configured to: access user-definedsynchronization criteria from the data store for identifying files tosynchronize between a first primary storage device associated with afirst client computing device and a second primary storage deviceassociated with a second client computing device; initiate, by a storagemanager, a backup operation, the backup operation comprising:identifying, according to a storage policy, one or more files stored inthe first primary storage device; and copying, according to the storagepolicy, the one or more files stored in the first primary storage deviceto one or more secondary storage devices to create a backup includingthe one or more files; access file data associated with each of one ormore files in the backup; based at least in part on a review of theaccessed file data, identify at least one file in the backup that meetsthe synchronization criteria for synchronization between the firstprimary storage device and the second primary storage device; access theat least one file from the backup stored in the one or more secondarystorage devices; and communicate the accessed at least one file from theone or more secondary storage devices to the second client computingdevice for storage in the second primary storage device to synchronizethe at least one file between the first primary storage device and thesecond primary storage device.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein thefile data includes content metadata relating to the content of the atleast one file and the synchronization criteria specifies files forsynchronization based at least in part on content metadata.
 13. Thesystem of claim 12, wherein the user-defined synchronization criteriaspecifies files for synchronization based at least in part on thecontent metadata indicating the existence of one or more terms withinthe file.
 14. The system of claim 11, wherein the accessed file dataassociated with each of the one or more files in the backup is createdfollowing the initiation of the backup operation.
 15. The system ofclaim 11, wherein the at least one file communicated to the secondclient computing device replaces a previous version of the at least onefile stored in the second primary storage device.
 16. The system ofclaim 11, wherein the copy of the at least one file that is communicatedto the second client computing device is accessed from the one or moresecondary storage devices.
 17. The system of claim 11, wherein theidentification of the at least one file is performed is in response tothe backup operation.
 18. A networked data storage system forsynchronizing files between multiple client computers using file data,the system comprising: a first client computing device; a second clientcomputing device; at least one first primary storage device associatedwith the first client computing device; at least one second primarystorage device associated with the second client computing device; oneor more secondary storage devices; and computer hardware comprising oneor more computer processors and having a synchronization agent executingthereon, the synchronization agent configured to: access user-definedsynchronization criteria for identifying files to synchronize between afirst primary storage device associated with a first client computingdevice and a second primary storage device associated with a secondclient computing device; initiate, by a storage manager, a backupoperation, the backup operation comprising: identifying, according to astorage policy, one or more files stored in the first primary storagedevice; and copying, according to the storage policy, the one or morefiles stored in the first primary storage device to one or moresecondary storage devices to create a backup including the one or morefiles; access file data associated with each of the one or more files inthe backup; based at least in part on a review of the accessed filedata, identify at least one file in the backup that meets thesynchronization criteria for to synchronization between the firstprimary storage device and the second primary storage device; access theat least one file from the backup stored in the one or more secondarystorage devices; and communicate the accessed at least one file from theone or more secondary storage devices to the second client computingdevice for storage in the second primary storage device to synchronizethe at least one file between the first primary storage device and thesecond primary storage device.
 19. The networked data storage system ofclaim 18, wherein the identification of the at least one file isperformed in response to the backup operation.
 20. The networked datastorage system of claim 18, wherein the at least one file that iscommunicated to the second client computing device is accessed from theone or more secondary storage devices.
 21. A system comprising: a firstapplication-specific data agent executing on a first client computingdevice, the first client computing device in communication with a firstprimary storage device; one or more secondary storage devices; andcomputer hardware comprising one or more computer processors programmedto: access user-defined synchronization for identifying files tosynchronize between the first primary storage device associated with thefirst client computing device and a second primary storage deviceassociated with a second client computing device; initiate, by a storagemanager, a backup operation, the backup operation comprising: causingpreparation, by the first application-specific data agent, of one ormore files stored in the first primary storage device for the backupoperation; and copying the one or more files stored in the first primarystorage device to one or more secondary storage devices to create abackup including the one or more files; access file data associated witheach of one or more files in the backup; based at least in part on areview of the accessed file data, identify at least one file in thebackup that meets the synchronization criteria for synchronizationbetween the first primary storage device and the second primary storagedevice; access the at least one file from the backup stored in the oneor more secondary storage devices; and communicate the accessed at leastone file from the one or more secondary storage devices to the secondclient computing device for storage in the second primary storage deviceto synchronize the at least one file between the first primary storagedevice and the second primary storage device.
 22. The system of Claim21, wherein causing preparation, by the first application-specific dataagent, of one or more files stored in the first primary storage devicecomprises encrypting the one or more files.
 23. The system of Claim 21,wherein the first application-specific data agent is associated with afirst software application of the first client computing device, andwherein the system further comprises: a second application-specific dataagent executing on the first client computing device, wherein the secondapplication-specific data agent is associated with a second softwareapplication of the first client computing device that is different fromthe first software application, wherein the backup operation furthercomprises: causing preparation, by the second application-specific dataagent, of a second one or more files stored in the first primary storagedevice for the secondary copy operation; and copying the second one ormore files stored in the first primary storage device to one or moresecondary storage devices to create the backup including the second oneor more files, and wherein the one or more computer processors arefurther programmed to: access file data associated with each of thesecond one or more files in the backup.
 24. The system of Claim 23,wherein the first software application and/or the second softwareapplication comprise at least one of: a Microsoft Exchange application,a Lotus Notes application, a Microsoft Windows file system application,a Microsoft Active Directory Objects application, a SQL Serverapplication, a SharePoint application, an Oracle database application,an SAP database application, or a virtual machine application.